Overview
The return of “The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer”, a crowd-pleaser from this year’s Fringe Festival, resurrects that feeling not experienced since Pixar’s Up: kids’ stuff can be for big guys too.
The one-man show about a future human race looking for a new place to settle in peace (via the explorations of the eponymous hero) aims for the point nestled obscurely between naïve joy and mature contemplation and, according to reviews the world over, nails it squarely. A contemporary homily told with deceptively simple puppetry and animation, it’s touted as for the kids, Gran, mum or colleagues. There's enough creative characterisation and crafty stage production to keep adults interested, and, from the video trailer I’ve seen, pretty much enchanted.
Creator/performer Tim Watts is an award-winning, world-dominating theatrical superman hailing from Perth, who’s taken Alvin Sputnik from its debut in a local theatre in 2009 to Edinburgh, New York and New Zealand, constantly changing and adapting the story depending on audience feedback.
This sounds just about as organic and creative as current theatre gets while still being accessible for young ‘uns, and I’m more than a little looking forward to perhaps shedding a tear or two (whether from laughter or that other thing). Tim Watts and Alvin Sputnik will be weaving their magical spell for seven shows at the intimate Herald Theatre from November 3 with two shows each evening - 6pm and 8pm - and a matinee on Saturday at 1.30pm.