It's Dark Outside

It’s Dark Outside—the latest offering from Perth Theatre Company (also architects of returning mega-hit The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik…)– has been receiving high praise, which, for its sublime sleight-of-hand and sloshing stream of ideas, it almost certainly deserves.

Where it falls down, for those suffering a little puppetry fatigue at this year’s Fringe, might lie in a tale that drowns in whimsy and sometimes substitutes technical muscle-flexing for coherent storytelling.

Not that there aren’t some wondrous flashes of theatricality on show, mind. Our protagonist, a stony-faced man of senior years, is rendered life- and pint-sized, embarking on his own Western-themed adventure as his mind and memory slowly ebb away. Retreat, it seems, is his only option. At other times, he’s projected onto a floor-to-ceiling screen in animated form, or recreated through perspective-shifting shadowplay, which cinematically, provide some of the show’s best moments.

But amongst the stylistic snowstorm and bursts of object manipulation (the semi-opaque tent that morphs into our man’s loyal equine companion effortlessly dangles our disbelief), lies a little too much cutesy imagineering. There’s the incessant plinky-plonky piano score, for one; the misleadingly malevolent presence stalking our hero; and the image of an old man as bumbling, lonely and slipping into oblivion just feels a little too easy.

That said, it's a show that will undoubtedly strike a chord with many, showcasing the full arsenal of PTC’s theatrical/filmic weaponry and deft human skill. A little less of the knowingly sentimental though, and It’s Dark Outside would surely burn brighter still.