A darkly humorous show by Trick of the Light Theatre, Suitcase Show unpacks secrets through puppetry, shadow play, and inventive storytelling. A clever, miniature masterpiece full of intrigue and comedy.
Love to travel but hate the trip through customs? The cathartic dark humour behind this new show from absolute geniuses Trick of the Light Theatre (The Bookbinder) springs from the luggage contents of an unnamed traveller, whose suitcases raise the suspicions of an airport customs officer. If you don’t know the brilliance of Ralph McCubbin Howell and Hannah Smith, Suitcase Show is the perfect introduction: a masterclass in miniature stagecraft, old school tech wizardry and unbelievably good storytelling. Puppetry, shadow play, animation, intrigue, comedy — it’s all there in tiny yet immense spoonfuls of theatrical joy.
Suitcase Show is an eclectic box set of short stories. Dark, spiky, and comic, each one is told out of a suitcase. The staging is inventive, from lo-fi shadowplay to wireless projection, from dancing disembodied hands to narratives that crackle from a 70s stereo suitcase. Tiny in scale, but expansive in story, it touches on climate change, love and death, travel, and secrets that we carry with us – an overthrown autocrat finds themselves on the run from their own shadow, an astronaut turns their telescope back on earth and back in time.
A masterful weaving of stories… Crafty as all hell. -Art Murmurs
Weaves a bright, dark magic -The Scotsman, UK
A virtuoso display of Trick of the Light’s expertise in small-scale, big vision theatricality. -The Theatre Times
Presented by:
Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival and Performing Arts Network New Zealand (PANNZ)
Mā is a poignant devised theatre and performance poetry work that delves into themes of chosen family, motherhood, and identity. Mā is both a tribute to the artist's own mother and a powerful expression of Aiga filifilia (Chosen Family) as central to its narrative.
Poignant, engaging and perceptively funny, Personal is artist Jodee Mundy’s story of being CODA, which she cleverly portrays through performance, storytelling, multimedia and animation.
