‘This fun and heartwarming show combines puppetry, live music, dancing, comedy and an interactive drumming segment! Also this year – everyone who wants to can leave with a pet tree to plant!’
I might be the only person in Adelaide who has never seen the Amazing Drumming Monkeys before, but I had heard of them by reputation and was looking forward to the show.
This years Fringe show is ‘The Tree Show’ and there is a consistent message throughout the 40 minute performance about recycling paper and generally looking after the planet. The Amazing Drumming Monkeys have teamed up with Trees for Life to get this message across and also give every child at the show a small tree to take home to look after. That was pretty exciting; it’s not often you go to a fringe show and get a present to take home at the end!
The Monkeys, Congo and Bongo are, of course, puppets. I couldn’t actually work out where the puppeteers were concealed, but they can definitely see the audience and make observations whilst playing the drums and moving the monkey arms around to pick up props. There were a few funny technical issues during the show we saw which really added to the hilarity of the performance. The Monkeys are clearly used to everything not quite running smoothly so it was handled really well. With the assistance of helpful audience members, things soon got back on track!
For 10.30am on a Saturday morning, I was surprised at the size of the crowd – the kids of Adelaide clearly love the Drumming Monkeys. For a show with relatively little content, the little ones were engaged the whole time. The highlight was when all the children had the opportunity to have their own drum and play along with the Monkeys. The kids (and parents) were encouraged to come to the front and sit on the floor right in front of the set (although a few were trying to climb right onto the set too!).
I took my six year old and I would say he was a bit too old to really enjoy it. He wasn’t keen to join in, thinking he was a bit past pretending to be a tiger and hop about like a kangaroo. Our fellow Fringe-goers were primarily pre-kindy aged and were having a ball. The Fringe Guide suggests the show is aimed at kids aged one to eight, but I think that after about 5 they might find it a bit babyish.
It was a really sweet show; I wish I had discovered the Amazing Drumming Monkeys for my kids years ago!
‘The Amazing Drumming Monkeys’ are showing in The Corona tent in the Garden of Unearthly Delights on weekends throughout the Fringe Festival. The have two shows a day; 10.30am and 12noon.
For more information about this show and ticket bookings please see the Adelaide Fringe website here.
See our posts about all things Fringe here.
What: The Amazing Drumming Monkeys | The Tree Show
When: Weekends during the Fringe period | 10.30am and 12noon
Where: The Corona | Garden of Unearthly Delights
Who: Little ones!
Play & Go Adelaide have media access to the Adelaide Fringe 2016. All reviews are our own opinion from personal experience, unpaid and not influenced by the artist/s and/or promoter/s in any way.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
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