Junkyard Beats invites you to an hour of highly imaginative and upbeat musical entertainment in “The Box Show”, a clever and inventive take on conventional musical theatre.

The four Junkyard performers play on a stage strewn with a kaleidoscope of brightly painted boxes and other paraphernalia such as pipes, bins and kitchen equipment. In their capable hands, these everyday items become drums and improvised instruments. The centrepiece is a giant storage crate that evolves from a food prep station to a moving stage to a “recycling” machine. It feels like being in the world’s most colourful junkyard. With the scenery changing constantly, there’s never a dull moment as the quartet finds new surprises around every corner. 

It’s an incredibly funny show, full of physical comedy and pratfalls. The four performers put their wildly expressive faces and mannerisms to good use as they dance, careen and bound across the stage. The crew bring a fun sense of nonsense as they address the audience and each other in Pig Latin gibberish reminiscent of The Sims. There’s plenty of audience participation as everyone is encouraged to clap along and help create a collective sense of rhythm, and the kids in the audience love every minute of it. It’s family-friendly clowning at its finest. 

It’s incredible to see how many different ways the crew can elicit music from the most improbable sources. Everything from plastic bags to graters to plastic bottles to the cardboard boxes themselves acts as a means to produce a beat. Metal kegs and garbage bins become taiko drums, and the slapping of plastic tubes is inexplicably turned into the most original cover of “Eye of the Tiger” I’ve ever heard. The rhythms are catchy and the percussion fills every corner of the room. 

This is a perfect family show; the younger members of the audience will be greatly entertained by the whacky clowning of the performers, and the young at heart will be charmed by the energetic musical improvisation. To top it all off, there’s a wonderfully wholesome message about upcycling and how to find fun using even the most mundane materials from around the home.

“The Box Show” is ridiculous fun and a testament to the power of creativity and music. A wildly entertaining musical experience that turns the everyday into the extraordinary. 

***** FIVE STARS