While Mem Fox and Julie Vivas’ picture book Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge has been tugging at the heartstrings of Australian readers for the past 40 years, the story is no less relevant than when first released.
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre has now brought this tender tale of intergenerational friendship to life with an adaptation under the debut mainstage direction of Bec Bradley, who has been entertaining Spare Parts audiences as a performer since 2005 in The Velveteen Rabbit.
“I’ve got to spend the last 19 years playing, so I knew this was a big step up, in terms of responsibility and belief in myself and trusting myself in the work,” Murdoch University graduate and Coolbellup resident Bradley says.
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READ NOW“It was absolutely the right choice and it’s been an amazing experience, mostly because I’ve been working with an incredible team.”
The story follows young boy Wilfrid whose best friend is 96-year-old Miss Nancy, a resident in the old people’s home next door.
When Wilfrid finds out Miss Nancy is losing her memory, he goes on a quest. Firstly to find out what a memory is by asking other residents in the home, before deciding to collect objects to trigger memories from Miss Nancy’s past, in turn reminding her who Wilfrid is too.
“It’s about intergenerational connection, it’s about sharing memories, it’s about the power of objects as vessels for memories, it’s about memory loss and it’s about caring for our elders,” the director says.
“I think the themes in the book, and in the show, will resonate really deeply for a great deal of our audience because there’s a lot of people having to deal with people suffering from memory loss and Alzheimer’s and dementia in their lives … It’s really close to the bone.”
Bradley co-created Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge with performer Michael Barlow — Tamara Creasey also features in the production — where the pair watched Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds on their first day of creative development and it quickly dawned on them the need to make the work as much for local seniors and grandparents in the audience, as children.
“It was very clear for us that we wanted Wilfrid and Nancy to be life-sized puppets and then we made the decision that we wanted our audience to become the other residents in the old folks’ home, which was a big decision to make and a brave undertaking,” she says.
“It means every show has five other people on stage and the invitation for them really is to be unscripted. We’re inviting them to give authentic responses and share real stories and real memories with us on the stage. It was trying to find the pathways and how to craft the work in a way where they were completely supported and guided to ultimately have a really positive experience, and to be given a space where they could share themselves, where they could feel seen and heard.
“There’s something about the older generation, where you reach an age and suddenly it feels like you’re invisible to the rest of the world. I wanted them to feel like, ‘we want to know, we want to hear your stories, there’s a place for you where we really value who you are, the wisdom that you hold and the memories that you have to share’.
“It works beautifully having these real people onstage interacting with puppets. There’s something very powerful about that dynamic … I think puppetry is such an incredible form of storytelling. It’s so powerful and this sort of direct connection to our imaginations. I love how you just suggest something with the power of an object or a puppet and our imaginations fill in all the gaps.”
Eligible senior attendees are invited to reserve their place in 30-minute pre-show activity, Take A Seat, via the website at the time of booking. Five participants will then become part of that performance.