Wednesday October 22, 2025
MR STINK
Review

MR STINK

April 10 2016

MR STINK, Playhouse Theatre in the Balnaves Foundation Open House Program, Sydney Opera House, 9-24 April 2016.

By James Dayhew (10) and his friends Oliver and Nicholas Spinks

Mr Stink is a comedic play made from a book by David Walliams that is set in the present day in England where a girl and a hobo meet and they become friends. And it describes the family and who they were in the past and who they are now.

The set was changeable and could be made into a park, inside the family’s house, the shed, TV set and also a shop. The set was flappable and foldable where, at one time you would have the park and then flip and you would have the inside of the house. This was done when they turned off the lights and rolled each of the frames to the new scene.

The cast was very varied and they had great costumes that expressed their character. Mr Stink was very ragged with crumpled and dirty clothes. He also had smoke that was continually rising from his clothes as a visual effect, this tricked your nose into thinking there was a terrible stench.

One of the female characters played a number of parts she would change her clothes and also her hair. It was so realistic that you had a hard time telling it was the same person.

The mother’s character had a wig and this was like her character. It started out very well groomed and tight, showing her as a very selfish person. As the play went on she became meaner and the hair slowly changed through the play to a bit messy and then crazy sticking out in all directions.

MR STINK

The girl was very nice in her personality, she was very friendly and made friends with the hobo. The family did not like this and thought that it was not a great idea to be nice to a homeless person.

Raj was the best character he was funny and made jokes. He broke the fourth wall and spoke directly to the audience. He used physical humour which made everyone laugh. He was using references that we did not understand, they were aimed at parents and grown ups. There was a random section where they did Indian dancing which made it more funny.

There was a message through the play which is – don’t judge a book by its cover. It shows that even though people can be smelly and look shabby they can be really nice and you need to take time to get to know them. Also there is a story where people can change. The mother starts off by thinking winning is the only thing and then she changes to being nice and acknowledges people for who they are.

We all agree that Raj made it a great play. They could have changed the adult jokes as I was not sure why some of them were in there and it had to be explained to us later. The parents found it funny. We think that it is best for 6 and up as some of the jokes may not be understood.

 

 

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