We may not be able to see an end to the ongoingly 'unprecedented' disruption to our lives, but sitting by the lake in the Royal Botanic Gardens on a cool summer morning watching grown adults cavorting on the grass dressed as animals from a classic children’s book, you could be forgiven for thinking all was right with the world. The Australian Shakespeare Company's inimitable production of The Wind in the Willows, now in its 35th year, continues to delight and distract Sydneysiders young and old as only a shaggy, silly-as-a-wheel panto-style comedy can.
To be honest, even while it adheres closely to the narrative beats of the novel, this stage adaptation has never really had much interest in Kenneth Grahame’s utterly sublime book; there isn’t a hint of the deep, rich nature prose or the deliciously eccentric character quirks. This isn’t the kind of show that can sustain a chapter like ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’, where Rat and Mole come across a pagan demi-god very like Pan himself, “while Nature, flushed with fullness of incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath”.
Here, no one holds their breath for more than a moment, which suits the youngest members of the audience just fine. The first twenty minutes or so are taken up with a series of introductions. We meet our guide Chief Head Rabbit, who confesses late in the show that “I’m not even in the book!”, and his tricksy side-kick cum villain Weasel. They in turn introduce us to Mole, Ratty, Badger and Otter, variously sensible and wise. Of course, the best is saved for last, and Mr Toad of Toad Hall doesn’t disappoint.
Toad is the standout character in the novel, and so he proves in the play; pompous, narcissistic and deeply irresponsible, he is by far the most fun, and also the one figure who gets things moving, literally and dramatically. His enthusiasms – first for boats, then carriages and finally for motorcars – gets him into a series of increasingly outrageous escapades. It’s his house that is overrun with weasels and brings on the battle that climaxes the show. And for all his flaws, he’s the most adorable.
Everything has a breezy and impromptu feel, even though it’s actually precisely calibrated. No scenes outstay their welcome, and little breaks as the audience move to new settings are deliberately paced to prevent the tiniest members of the audience from getting restless. Those jokes that nod to the adults, imperative in children’s entertainment these days, mostly land and any dead spots are quickly passed over as the show trundles along to its happy conclusion.
Most kids, even the very young, will delight in the whole thing – although I made the fatal error of taking a six-year-old who’s frightened of everything. More robust children will be captivated, and so will their guardians. A bunch of talented and committed actors, dressed sublimely in Karla Erenbots’ beautiful costumes, ‘messing around in boats’ is exactly what Sydney needs this summer.
