Andy Packer on A Concise Compendium Of Wonder: 'Our stories lead us back to a sense of hope for the future'
Rachel Cronin finds South Australian theatre company Slingsby are not only going out with a bang, but with a message of hope
The epic three-part world premiere which ends 20-odd years of Slingsby’s bold and environmentally aware theatre productions is guaranteed to grip young minds. A Concise Compendium Of Wonder is no run-of-the-mill trio of fairytale adaptations. Rather, it reflects humanity’s descent from connection to nature into the disjointed urban dystopias of our modern world. And as the internationally renowned company’s founder and artistic director Andy Packer explains, looking into the murkier parts of humanity can often lead to a brighter future.
‘We sort of lean into the darkness and the challenges of human experience’, says Packer. ‘But always our stories lead us back to a sense of hope for the future. We’re very focused through those stories on the wonder, beauty and infinite possibility of our universe.’ While many fairytale adaptations in kids’ and young people’s theatre may include a sleeping princess or gold-guarding dragon, the tales we see retold in this enchanting triptych (audiences can watch them individually or take in all three) include Hansel And Gretel (reborn as The Childhood Of The World), The Selfish Giant (renamed The Giant’s Garden) and The Little Match Girl (rewritten as The Tree Of Light).
‘We read a lot of fairytales and we found that these three stories all have a connection to trees or to forests,’ Packer explains. The team crafted an epic tale around them, one that links each story together over a lengthy period, sending a powerful message about the planet’s descent into environmental emergency. ‘It tells a very long timescale story, across those three tales, of humanity’s slow distancing from nature, from being part of it to thinking of ourselves as exceptional and separate from nature,’ he says. ‘So that’s the story that we wanted to tell across those three shows, but each show stands alone as its own production.’ And in true ‘practice what you preach’ fashion, the production uses just one cast of actors over its three shows, which will decrease the theatre company’s air miles and carbon footprint when A Concise Compendium Of Wonder tours internationally.
After cuts to federal funding which have been felt throughout Australia’s arts world, Slingsby has chosen to ‘go out with a bang’ with this final production, rather than rationing out its remaining funds over the next few years. After touring it around Australia and globally, the final curtain will fall for the company in 2027. ‘We’ve decided to just say “not all things need to last forever”,’ Packer concludes. ‘Instead of working under financial stress, we’ve decided to spend all of our money that we’ve raised over the years on a final, beautiful thing.’
A Concise Compendium Of Wonder, 18 February–15 March, Adelaide Botanic Garden, times vary.