Catherine Wheels' kids drama finally ends Gill's ten-year wait

Published on Friday 26 February 2010 09:08

"LIGHTING Ridge is full of crackpots, like the sun burnt their brains out," as you can discover at Musselburgh's Brunton Theatre, tomorrow.

Four questions lie at the heart of Pobby and Dingan, the latest production from the award-winning Catherine Wheels Theatre Company:

1: What if you lived in the middle of nowhere?

2: What if your dad spent all day searching for something he might never find?

3: What if your mum dreamed of living on the other side of the world?

4: And what if your sister was a fruit-loop who spent all day playing with two invisible friends?

Those are the problems preying on the mind of 12-year-old Ashmol (played by Scott Turnbull). Ashmol lives in the Australian outback with his mum (Rosalind Sydney), dad (Damien Warren-Smith) and his little sister Kellyanne (Ashley Smith) and her two imaginary friends Pobby and Dingan.

One day, Pobby and Dingan disappear. At first Ashmol is happy that the imaginary friends are out of his life, but Kellyanne becomes sick. The longer Pobby and Dingan are lost, the sicker Kellyanne becomes. Finally Ashmol decides that there is only one thing to do: he must find Pobby and Dingan.

A heartbreaking and beautiful contemporary tale about the possibility of dreams, the preciousness of hope and how, sometimes, we have to believe in the impossible.

"It feels really special to be opening Pobby and Dingan at the Brunton Theatre," says Catherine Wheels' artistic director Gill Robertson. "The story has been with me for a long time, I discovered it nearly ten years ago in a collection of Australian-themed short stories published by Granta.

"The story affected me deeply and I really wanted to bring it to the stage. I contacted the author's agent, but somebody else had requested to use the story and the rights were not available.

"Over the years the story of Kellyanne and Ashmol, their search for Pobby and Dingan and the image of this faraway place called Lightning Ridge stayed with me. So, two years ago, we contacted the agent again, and I was delighted to discover that the rights had become available. After ten years thinking about it I could finally bring Pobby and Dingan to the stage."

Catherine Wheels' stage adaptation of the tale by Rob Evans is based on the original novella written by high school English teacher Ben Rice, which the New York Times described as 'Completely unexpected, a novel that just glows in your hands.'

Robertson continues, "Rob Evans has had quite an adventure whilst researching the project.

"He was in Australia earlier this year and decided to visit Lightning Ridge, the town where Pobby and Dingan is set, to see it for himself.

"It's quite a trip, a 500- mile drive through the outback of New South Wales, to find this small town in the middle of nowhere.

"He said it was amazing and had a glimpse of what it must be like to spend your life hoping beyond hope that one day you will find that elusive opal.

"Rob also met the author, Ben Rice, who lives in Sydney. Ben's wife is actually from Lightning Ridge and Ben says that Pobby and Dingan is, in fact, based on a true story."

Full of crazy characters who live in tin shacks, spending their time in holes in the ground, death, obsession and giant platypuses are all present in this darkly humorous tale which is 70 minutes long and suitable for children aged 8+

Brunton Theatre, Mussel-burgh, tomorrow, 2pm and 7.30pm, 6, 0131-655 2240

Then: Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, 3-6 March, various times, 8, 0131-228 1404 and Howden Park Centre, Livingston, 25 March, 10.30am and 1.30pm, 6, 01506-777 666