No child’s play...

German author Erich Kästner’s iconic novel Emil And The Detectives has been translated in as many as 59 languages and spawned adaptations on screen and television. The work, which was first published in 1929, was lauded as it didn’t adopt a didactic tone, but showed the heroic deeds of children in a contemporary setting. Now, Australian arts organisation, Slingsby Theatre Company, presents it in a unique way as part of the NCPA Theatre Season. The play, which will be staged today and tomorrow in the city, is about a young child, Emil, who is looted by a mysterious man while travelling on a train to the city. How Emil traces him with the help of another boy and 24 other children forms the crux of the story. 

What makes Slingsby’s version different is that two actors depict all the characters and use props like mirrors and miniature worlds to take the story forward. 

Andy Parker, who has helmed the adaptation by Nicki Bloom, says, “I was excited by the way Kästner presented a world filled with good and flawed people. Even though this is a story for children, he presented a complex world where happiness and sadness coexisted. This really struck a chord with what we are trying to explore with Slingsby’s work. To show that there is darkness in the world — but that this darkness serves to make the light moments even brighter and more wonderful.”

Challenges galore 

For actress Elizabeth Hay, the biggest task was to lend authenticity to her character. She elaborates, “It was challenging to not do a stereotypical ‘child’, but keep Emil fairly neutral and completely truthful. We wanted the character to appeal to everyone in one way or another — children and adults alike. Emil isn’t perfect and has struggles as well as makes mistakes like every other child or adult in the world.” 

As for her co-actor Tim Overton, this wasn’t the first time he was enacting multiple roles in a play. He says, “It takes a lot of rehearsal and it helps to find different voices and body shapes for each character to differentiate between them. Mostly it’s pretty fun! But one big challenge is to give enough attention to each role with not very much time. I wouldn’t want to make any of the characters boring or two-dimensional. I want to be able to figure out who each one is, but there isn’t always time for that.”

Director’s take 

Quiz Andy what prompted him to use smoke, mirrors and miniature worlds as props and he replies, “As a touring company, we need to keep the number of people touring as small as possible. This gives us lots of challenges in telling a story with so many characters — it pushes us to find interesting solutions. We are quite interested in shadow and flame, mirror and smoke because these are primal ingredients of storytelling and can help to put the audience in a dreamlike state.”

Point out to him that with children’s plays, it’s always a task for directors to ensure that the productions aren’t too patronising and he states, “Kids are incredibly sophisticated. They make meaning from image as well as from words. I always remember that I have to be truthful when making theatre for a young audience. If I do not believe it, neither will they. I’m interested in theatre that leaves viewers with a sense of hope.”

Emil And The Detectives will be staged today and on January 20 at Experimental Theatre, NCPA at 12 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm.