An amalgam of theatrics and science, Walking with Dinosaurs – Arena Spectacle, is an enjoyable production which will captivate audiences of all ages eager to step back in time to walk with the dinosaurs.
The show opens with the Triassic Period and the first dinosaurs the audience encounters are little baby dinosaurs, followed by the sneaky Liliensternus. The audience travels forward to the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods, meeting 20 dinosaurs along the way.
The show ends with a massive confrontation between a Torosaurus, Ankylosaurus and a mother Tyrannosaurus Rex defending her mischievous baby.
However, it is literally walking with dinosaurs. One should not expect a savage fight between the ancient creatures, owing to the costly design of the suits. Instead the dinosaurs sway around the stage, roaring menancingly at each other.
The script, jammed-packed with information, conveyed to the audience through a paleontologistic medium christened Huxley, aimed at enriching its guests with bits of trivia about the different periods, the dinosaurs and even the demise of the dinosaurs, which was credited to a comet that struck the Gulf of Mexico.
The character Huxley was loosely modelled after the famed biologist and Darwin supporter Thomas Huxley.
There was one line in the first act that caught my attention, and was mentioned in conjunction with the changing nature of the earth and dinosaurs were the words “built on a great design”. Was the evolution versus intelligent design theory debate slowly creeping into the plot?
When asked, Associate Director Cameron Wenn, said that the phrase was used “poetically” and had no reference to the notion of intelligent design.
If it was, it would be ironic, considering that the real Thomas Huxley did not support the idea of intelligent design.
The show's use of advanced animatronics was definitely its best selling-point. Instead of the mechanised jerky movements animatronics previously offered, these dinosaurs move with effortless fluidity.
While the smaller dinosaurs, manoevred by actors in the suit, showcased the sleek agility of the design, it was the larger dinosaurs that impressed. Thanks to its sheer sized, the audience could actually see the massive Tyrannosaurus Rex heaving, muscles twitching as she strides forward to protect her young.
Even though it was a tad bit difficult to avert your gaze from the wheels that supported the large dinosaurs, like the Brachiosaurus and Stegosaurus, one could not help but be mesmerised by the elegant fluidity of movement the animatronics team managed to capture with their designs.
When asked if he was planning the addition of new dinosaurs to the show, Mr Wenn said no but they had modified the script to keep the show scientifically up-to-date.
Head of Creatures Michael Hamilton said that during the course of their American tour, it was discovered that their depiction of the Stegosaurus was not accurate.
Mr Hamilton said they had been operating under the assumption that the Stegosaurus would “pump blood into their plates” and this had been incorporated into the plot, and had to be removed when it was later revealed that such an action “was not physically possible”.
Overall, I found it to be quite entertaining. I can see the show appealing to a broad range of people, as long as they are willing to overlook the current technological limitations, such as the wheels fixed at the bottom of the larger dinosaurs which does distract and ruin the magic quite a bit. Although at times the cacophony caused by background music mashed together with Huxley's narration served no other function but to annoy.
It did seem like the show was trying to impress with scientific facts and figures, but unlike the BBC documentary which laid out its information in a neat and cohesive manner, the stage production attempted to condense as much trivia as possible into 80-minutes show-time.
With the lead actor competing with the background music for supremacy, it was easy to miss some of the interesting facts the show had to offer.
Perhaps my expectations were raised too high, but I felt that all in all, Walking with Dinosaurs was meant to entertain rather than educate.