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Amy the Ant delights her audience

  • Writer: Ashley Hayward
    Ashley Hayward
  • 2 days ago
  • 2 min read
Julie Sharkey. An Ant Called Amy. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Julie Sharkey. An Ant Called Amy. Photo courtesy of the artist.

An Ant called Amy written and performed by Julie Sharkey, at Venue B2, Belgrade Theatre running Friday and Saturday, 30 and 31 May.

Review Ashley Hayward

 

Amy is not just any old ant – she’s a very hardworking ant who has just won an Employer of the Month Award!

This short but delightful tale is written and superbly performed by Julie Sharkey. It is aimed at 5 to 9 year olds and, judging by the faces in the audience, it certainly hit the target.


This is very much a one woman show as Julie cleverly portrays the industrious and lovable Amy using language very appropriate for primary age children. Through imaginative impersonations she also introduces us to other members of the ant community including the manager ant who sounds the bugle to get them up in the morning and the pedantic security ant who is a stickler for the rules.


It becomes apparent that Amy has lost her brother Andy and she still talks to him even though he’s no longer there. She seems to be trying to keep busy and uses hard work as a way of coping with her loss. The only other character we meet is Amy’s possible adversary, Brown spider, and here Julie demonstrates outstanding skills in glove puppetry. The spider in fact turns out to be very friendly and gets Amy to talk openly about her feelings rather than bottle them up.


The set couldn’t be simpler in that there is just a step ladder to represent the Ant hill and the production is enhanced by clever sound effects and haunting music. The script covers the topic of coping with the loss of a loved one very sensitively and the key message is that we should slow down, appreciate the things our loved one did and celebrate the world around us.


The accompanying adults in the audience seemed to be enjoying the performance as much as the children and, like me, I’m sure some were still hearing Amy’s catchy little motto song on the way home!


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