The Reading Boy

I opted for an encyclopedia, a book full of facts and sayings ... I thought a young boy who wanted to know everything, who loved learning things, was an interesting hero

The central relationship is between the boy and a crow who lives in a garbage bin outside the boy's bedroom window. The boy thinks the only information he is ever likely to obtain, comes from his book, but the crow helps him realise that isn't the case and that he will learn a great deal more if he reads more than one book.

So where does the crow come into the act? I admire the way certain Australian birds and animals have managed to survive in our cities. Possums for instance ... the notion of a city crow appealed. Somehow a friendly robot got into the act because increasingly work that people used to do is being done by machines. For better or worse that is somethine we all, adults and children, have to come to terms with.

Handspan's show is a novel, provoking and beautifully staged piece of youth theatre.

Romeril has a point or two to make about the need for young persons to read widely and critically, and not take everything they find in books at face value. But no youngsters (or their teachers) need fear they are being preached at. This is primarily an entertainment that uses the techniques of puppetry and theatre to create a childhood world of illusion.

I really enjoyed your play you did on Reading Boy. I would love to know how you got Reading Boy to fly with crow?

I thought it was fabulous and the bit I liked best was when he nearly got hit by the car when the lights flashed on because the crow flew the boy to the re-cycling shop. I wrecken it was great Mr Wilson.

I liked the bit when the crow opened the bin and told the story about how the crow became black. I have two questions to ask you. How did you get reading boy in the air? Is it true about how the crow became black?
P.S. It was the best play I have ever seen.

The story was so well told by the visual progressions that much of the dialogue was rendered superfluous. The definition of the moral at the end was unnecessary as the audience had grasped the meaning from the tale and further clarification hung like an adult reprimand.

This otherwise excellent show gets pulped in sprawling scenes of pulsating piles of newsprint at the paper mill.

What makes this hour-long production memorable, is the visual effects orchestrated by the Handspan puppeteers ... the Reading Boy is rather wooden in the opening scenes. However he literally "takes off" when he sets out to find his favourite book. The show is recommended for older primary school children but the visual effects from the animated pile of newsprint to the Reading Boy flying through the air, will engage the attention of even younger children.