Nyet Nyets Picnic
The Snuff of legends: the endearing Hairy Men.
Birrarung Marr, 6.30pm, May 20-22.
A cloud-misted moon, the occasional dog, children bopping to the pre-performance music created a warm and friendly atmosphere despite the nip in the air, as the crowd gathered at Birrarung Marr for the world premiere of Nyet Nyet's Picnic, a performance by Snuff Puppets built around indigenous myths and legends.
Hairy men, gigantic blue women - it sounds the stuff of scary childhood fantasy. But the monstrous creatures in Nyet Nyet's Picnic carry more weight in Aboriginal culture than our traditional European fairytales. The powers that these mythical creatures exercise are taken very seriously, and as such serve an essential role in educating children about the dangers of misbehaving. Do the wrong thing and a bunyip or a giant hairy man may punish you.
The open-air performance is presented in the round, with the crowd seated on the ground below a mound. While this arrangement lent a certain authentic ambience, there were difficulties with sight lines, so that action carried out on one side of the mound was often invisible to people on the opposite side.
The action pits mere man against supersized puppets, in a kind of loose choreography. The ungainly puppets managed to be both monstrous and endearing, swallowing wayward warrior aborigines with gusto accompanied by amplified digestive noises. There is no doubt about it. A robust belch or ear splitting fart will always raise a laugh. The children in the audience got into the spirit of things, shouting "look behind you!" as a warrior was stalked by a fearsome Yaroma.
At one point the action was disrupted by the entrance of a paddle steamer, with toffee-accented Brits paddling their way, oblivious to the natural scenery, playing at fishing. It was a neat touch, contrasting trivia with deeply held beliefs in the spirit of the land.
Director Ian Pidd weaves a number of Aboriginal myths together, drawing on stories from cast members, archives and paintings, receiving permission by Boonerwrung elder Caroline Briggs
The work suffers from a lack of pace, and insufficient formal structures, but the puppets win everyone's hearts. Even adults take a naive delight in their actions, their features and their apparent expressiveness.