“Giant Among Dwarfs”

By: Einat Schief and Atara Tzarfati (7) 12/17/17

 

The Hanukkah shows industry is usually the last place to look for inventions and innovation.
Take three celebrities, four songs and a background story with a quarter of an educational lesson and let’s go – hit the theaters and what’s more important – the parents’ pockets.
“Gulliver” in Gesher theater, is a rare moment on which something else is happening: a production combining a theatrical adaption of Noga Ashkenazy to Jonathan Swift’s famous story, with elements of Augmented Reality, product of ARShow startup company. Using special goggles – which of course no parent misses an opportunity to take their child’s photo with – the viewers are drawn into the journey of Gulliver (the wonderful Eldad Privs) and his daughter Gilly (the talented Ruth Sanderovitz) in the tiny kingdom of Lilliput and in the giant kingdom of Brobdingnag.
When it works, the viewers gain an authentic and exciting experience. It’s easy to hear the amazement in the theater one a creature of some sort is entering the site, and the enjoyment when Privs asks the audience to blow on tiny ships or use the AR goggles to shoot at gigantic wasps.
In addition, the innovative aspect, makes it easier for the audience to cope with technical faults during the show. It seems the audience appreciates being present in such an unusual event – this was the first show presented to a broad audience – and therefore accept with understanding a technical fault that was rapidly fixed.
“Everything is possible” says Gulliver in the show, and actually connects its main theme to the impressive technological uniqueness of the project. “That isn’t true” says to me my smart nephew, and she is of course right, but he who dares to dream will gain a very unorthodox Hannukah show. Nowadays, this is quite a lot.
Quotes of the child:

“The show was beautiful and interesting. Sometimes I even felt I am in a different world”.

Score: 4.5 stars!