Rotorua Festival of Arts
Bubbles & Mustard
Phineas Phrog Productions
Rotorua Concert Chamber
11am, March 5 & 6.
At first glance you might wonder how a radio show could make compelling viewing - especially for youngsters.
But Bubbles & Mustard - the tale of a radio play about a happy goldfish and the universe'ssmartest mouse - pulls it off well, with plenty of sight and sound gags and a healthy proportion of slapstick to boot.
The show is introduced by Olive Olsen - our tour guide through the radio studio. She gets the kids (and mums and dads) in the audience involved quickly, soliciting lion roars, mouse eeps, lip-smacking fish pops and cruncing croc snaps.
Then in stumbles Ed - the station's junior junior assistant production manager's assistant, or message boy, and the source of much of the show's physical humour.
Ed, we discover, has shocking taste in sandwiches, which has led to the accidental food poisoning of the entire cast of the Bubbles & Mustard radio show.
What will the scary station boss think? He thinks the show must go on, with the three of them playing all the parts and creating the sound effects. Luckily Olive has a willing bunch of helpers in the audience to provide plenty of roars, eeps, pops and more.
Olive and Ed especially form a great rapport with the audience and really look like they're enjoying themselves.
And while it's fascinating to see the various items they use to create sound effects, the audience interaction is the key to this show's success - while our 5-year-old took a little while to warm up to it, our 3-year-old was hooked straight away - clapping, popping and eeping.
Mums and dads should enjoy it too - not least because it's a great length, about 50 minutes. Any longer and kids will get restless no matter how good the show is. - Kim Gillespie
