Spare Parts Puppet Theatre's latest production, The Arrival, will soon find its way to the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre.
Based on Shaun Tan’s short story, The Arrival aims to captivate Bunbury viewers on Tuesday, November 14 from 6pm.
The stage adaptation brings Tan’s work to life with lights, animals, alien symbols and floating ships.
The story centres on a refugee forced to leave his wife and child due to their homeland’s harsh conditions.
The dialogue-free show sees its performers utilise puppets, projections of Tan’s illustrations and the score to bring this fabled story to life.
Spare Parts’ original version picked up a Western Australian Equity Guild Award for ‘Best Production in 2006’.
Acclaimed performer Ellis Pearson – playing the lead character, Aki – is thrilled to be part of the experience.
“It combines the theatre that I love, which is very visual and very magical,” he said.
“It’s a lovely piece to read, as an actor, and it’s such a lovely piece for the audience to experience because it’s so magical and so visual.
“I think you are just left there to feel and imagine, and I think, because of the style, it allows the audience to use their imaginations in a way that something like television doesn’t.”
Pearson wanted to portray Aki as a “neutral vessel” for viewers to embody.
The performer was impressed by The Arrival’s focus on immigration and isolation, noting the play’s “universal” appeal for today’s audiences.
Person has blended movement, music and objects on stage for over 30 years, performing to wide audiences in 17 countries.
He credited Spare Parts for providing new experiences for its performers.
“I’m an experienced actor but I always want to learn new things and fine tune and so on, and so I think this show has allowed me to do that,” he said.
Check out BREC’s website or visit the Box Office to find out more.
