Mister Holgado

Synopsis

In a dark house in the dark city of Schwartzgarten there's something lurking in the shadows. Conrad tells his parents that there's a tiger living on top of his wardrobe (who eats champagne truffles, no less!) but they don't believe him. When Conrad's parents suddenly welcome a mysterious stranger, Mister Holgado, into their home, Conrad suspects he's more of a threat than any tiger ever could be. But parents always know best... don't they?

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 12 April 2013

This is a very strange, grown-up play for children. In the fictional city of Schwartzgarten, little pyjama-clad Conrad imagines a pet tiger. His father, a child psychologist, disguises himself as a mysterious stranger, Mister Holgado, in order to cure his son and save his marriage.

Odd, bizarre, like a mixture of Roald Dahl and Franz Kafka, Christopher William Hill’s play describes a territory between bed-time story and waking nightmare where children should be observed closely, like beetles under a microscope, and adults treated with maximum suspicion.

What’s missing on all sides is love, and this only follows after much scariness and maltreatment and a rather over-extended chase sequence in which Conrad locks horns with Mister Holgado in a violent contest that can only be described as friendly Freudian.

Although the eight or nine-year-old children I sat with were visibly stirred and shaken, I yearned for a more detailed and populated environment on M...

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