Diary of a Wombat
There wouldn’t be many Aussie kids born after 2002 that haven’t read this classic picture book. Now the true story of Mothball the very cheeky wombat comes to laughter-filled life on the stage.
Legendary children’s theatre company Monkey Baa decided to tackle the Australian classic as they approached their 21st birthday, and the result is a masterful combination of puppetry, live music and acting.
Director Eva Di Cesare says the process of bringing the story of the mischief making marsupial to life included road testing ideas with school kids, spending time at a wildlife sanctuary and talking to author and Australian children’s laureate Jackie French about her real life experiences with Mothball the wombat.
“It’s a true story. She was a wildlife carer and they gave her this wombat to release back into the wild. Of course Mothball made the decision she wasn’t going to do that. She really did do things like dig a burrow under their house.”
“We took a lot of joy in talking to Jackie and putting in a lot of other parts of her story as well.”
Scenes include Mothball kicking up dirt onto the barbeque in slow motion, battling the welcome mat on the front door, dancing the tango with the patio furniture and farting in her sleep – a universally hilarious gag for young audiences.
Di Cesare knew they’d nailed it while listening to two young kids in an auditorium whispering furiously with each other.
“One would say, ‘It’s real’, and the other one’s going, ‘no it’s not’, and then the other would say ‘but it IS real! The humans are just helping it, telling it where to go!’.”
“In the Q and A sessions afterwards this is always one of the first questions, ‘ is it real?’.”
Thu 19 Oct | 10am & 6pm | Darwin Entertainment Centre | $30 | $25 Conc, Child | $80 Family
