By Susan Harrington
David Collins’ The Luck Child is a masterclass in solo performance and storytelling. Armed with only a background screen, Collins proves that he needs little more than his body, voice and imagination to create an entire world on stage. The premise is delightfully classic: a wizard sets out to rescue the prophesied Luck Child – the seventh child of the seventh child – from the clutches of a paranoid evil king determined to kill the boy before the prophecy can place him on the throne.
What follows is a whimsical, fast-paced adventure through a series of bizarre and delightful settings, from a ramshackle circus to the ominously named Island of Death(ina). Along the way we encounter a host of eccentric characters, each brought vividly to life by Collins alone. The most astonishing feat of the show is his ability to embody all 16 characters with complete clarity. Each figure arrives with its own voice, posture and exaggerated facial expressions, making it easy to forget that the stage is occupied by just one performer.
Collins’ physicality is extraordinary – he shifts seamlessly between characters in an instant, twisting his body, contorting his face and altering his voice with pinpoint precision. Sound effects that shouldn’t be able to be created by the human voice, were. The result is theatre that feels both cinematic and delightfully handmade.
Equally charming is the way Collins handles the unexpected. Any slips, missed beats or small mistakes become part of the comedy, delivered with such humour and carefree confidence that they only deepen the audience’s affection for the performance. Adults and children alike shared many laughs along the way.
The Luck Child is witty, inventive and endlessly charming – a reminder of the magic that can happen when a truly skilled performer invites us to imagine an entire world with him.
Rating: A delightfully loopy five stars from us!
For more information, visit: adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/the-luck-child-af2026
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