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Production still for "Babes in the Wood" (2003). L-R: Lucy Taylor as Reggie, Caroline Craig as Ruby. Photographer: Lisa Tomasetti

Babes in the Wood (2003)

By Tom Wright

21 November 2003 – 13 December 2003 Merlyn Theatre

Playbox Theatre Company,

New Writing Theatre World Premiere

Once upon a time, two native-born Australians, still wrapped in the robes of childhood, find themselves lost in the Unforgiving Bush. They meet a colourful cavalcade of colonial pantomimics and get caught up in a spiralling hallucination of disreputable tales. Tom Wright has hunted through our rich heritage of colonial pantomimes to create this triumph of rhyme over reason.

"THIS IS A GLORIOUSLY COARSE AND VULGAR PRODUCTION, WHICH HURTLES AT FULL SPEED FROM BEGINNING TO END. THE COMPANY OF PEERFORMERS, LED BY THE NOW ICONIC MAX GILLIES, IS A SPECTACULARLY COHESIVE AND VIGOROUS ONE. I CAN’T HONESTLY SINGLE OUT ANY ONE PERFORMER AS THEY WERE ALL SUBLIME."

— Lola MacMillan, Australian Stage

Production still for "Babes in the Wood" (2003). Max Gillies as Aunty Avaricia. Photographer: Lisa Tomasetti

Production still for "Babes in the Wood" (2003). Photographer: Lisa Tomasetti

Production still for "Babes in the Wood" (2003). L-R: Eddie Perfect as Jack, Max Gillies as Aunty Avaricia, Diana Emry as Phyllis. Photographer: Anna Tregloan

Production still for "Babes in the Wood" (2003). L-R: Julie Forsyth as Boingle, Max Gillies as Aunty Avaricia, Francis Greenslade as Flapgherkin. Photographer: Anna Tregloan

Production still for "Babes in the Wood" (2003). Max Gillies as Aunty Avaricia. Photographer: Lisa Tomasetti

Production still for "Babes in the Wood" (2003). Photographer: Lisa Tomasetti

Production still for "Babes in the Wood" (2003). L-R: Eddie Perfect as Jack, Max Gillies as Aunty Avaricia, Diana Emry as Phyllis. Photographer: Anna Tregloan

Production still for "Babes in the Wood" (2003). L-R: Julie Forsyth as Boingle, Max Gillies as Aunty Avaricia, Francis Greenslade as Flapgherkin. Photographer: Anna Tregloan