Slingsby’s final work, A Concise Compendium of Wonder is a triptych of stories loosely based on Hansel & Gretel by the Brothers Grimm, Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl.

Not unlike Bryan Forbes’ 1961 film, Whistle Down the Wind, it places children at the moral and imaginative centre of its universe, not as naïve innocents, but as bearers of truth in a world where adult certainty is compromised by fear, legalism and a loss of imagination.

The stories span millennia, from famine-ravaged medieval Europe to a lunar colony in the year 3099. Throughout, the children’s kinship with nature and their courage in questioning inherited ‘truths’ provide a powerful counterpoint to adult authority. However, while celebrating agency and resilience as well as maintaining a sense of wonder, the stories never shy away from the consequences of human folly.

Slingsby’s Wandering Hall of Possibility. Photo © Alex Frayne

In The Childhood of the World, Jennifer Mills reimagines Hansel and Gretel as the story of siblings Crann and Ré who escape from their cannibalistic, feudal overlords and discover new ways of living in harmony with nature. Mills does, however, remain faithful to the themes of cunning and survival found in the original Grimm fairy tale.

Ursula Dubosarsky’s The Giant’s Garden, based on The Selfish Giant, tells of Ida’s empathy and courage in confronting a giant who would claim the natural world for himself, preserving Wilde’s message about generosity, access to nature and the transformative power of kindness.

Finally, inspired by The Little Match Girl, Ceridwen Dovey’s The Tree of Light, transports the audience to a human society on the moon. Here, children are Elders and do nothing else but work. One Elder addresses the audience, begging them to do the unthinkable and take time out to listen to a story about an electric candle seller who lived 1,000 years earlier and wanted to see the last trees on earth. Maintaining Andersen’s meditation on hope and the moral imperative to bear witness to the suffering of others, Dovey’s retelling extends its scope to societal reflection across millennia, with specific focus on the climate crisis.

This ecological sensibility clearly resonates with the young audiences in attendance, many of whom already report anxiety about climate change. According to the program notes, three-quarters of young Australians are concerned about the environment, with two-thirds noting associated mental health impacts, and more than half convinced that government action would help their wellbeing.

Slingsby’s The Childhood of the World. Photo © Eyefood

Across all three stories, storytelling is presented not as mere entertainment, but as a fundamental mechanism for social cohesion that transmits culture and, in this Concise Compendium of Wonder, illuminates the pathways by which children navigate danger, ethics and the ecological crisis.

In The Tree of Light, this idea reaches its chilling apex, with humankind having ceased to tell stories because it is ashamed of its past, leaving future generations unable to learn from prior mistakes.

The irony is stark. In a world of ecological and narrative collapse, Slingsby’s own swansong – brought about by a loss of funding from Creative Australia – becomes a meta-commentary on the need for imaginative engagement to safeguard our own survival.

In accordance with Slingsby’s Green Touring Model, the triptych is housed in the purpose-built Wandering Hall of Possibility – an eco-friendly, flat-packed, Spiegeltent-style venue whose interior changes entirely with each performance.

Its four-tiered seating banks are reconfigured so that the first play is fully in the round, the second uses a traverse seating arrangement, while the third is in an end-stage format, each transformation creating a complex, immersive environment with surround sound.

Slingsby’s The Giant’s Garden. Photo © Eyefood

The totality of each transformation, miraculously achieved in the two hours between performances, cannot be overstated. Set and Costume Designer Ailsa Paterson, Environment Designer Wendy Todd and Lighting Designer Chris Petridis have created entirely different worlds for the three plays, with projection designers Mark Oakley and Thom Buchanan making significant contributions to the latter two.

In The Childhood of the World, the entire space is shrouded in camouflage netting that allows for gorgeous, dappled lighting effects, evoking a magical forest world. The rain on the roof also contributes to the atmosphere inside.

The Giant’s Garden employs two large, scrim curtains that are drawn in parallel across the entire space at various times, allowing for the convincing use of various styles of puppetry – rod, shadow and, appropriately, giant.

The final space, created for The Tree of Light, resembles the interior of what at first appears to be a space station, complete with functioning airlock. We later learn that we are actually inside a lunar colony.

Slingsby’s The Tree Of Light. Photo © Eyefood

In all three plays, the three actors and puppeteers – Elizabeth Hay, Nathan O’Keefe and Ren Williams – deliver nuanced and physically demanding performances, seamlessly inhabiting multiple roles with clarity and unbridled energy.

Under the expert direction of Andy Packer, they bring each story vividly to life, drawing the audience into fully realised worlds, underpinned by the unique, evocative scores of composer Quincy Grant.

The only minor shortcoming is in the first play, where the threatening Secretary, Master of the Hunt and cart driver are all portrayed by a single masked actor rather than left to the audience’s imagination. While this slightly diminishes the sense of menace – especially given the impressive, disembodied voices that seem to come from behind us – it is a minor quibble.

Overall, A Concise Compendium of Wonder remains an ideal introduction to the theatre, and the children at these performances were clearly enthralled.

Adelaide Festival presents Slingsby’s A Concise Compendium of Wonder on Plane Tree Lawn at the Adelaide Botanic Garden until 15 March. In June, it travels to Whyalla in regional South Australia. For more information visit the Slingsby website.