Velveteen Rabbit - Premiering in June
A brand new creative work by Born in a Taxi, Velveteen Rabbit premieres at Family Fiesta, at the Monash University Alexander Theatre, June 28 - June 30, 2023
Velveteen Rabbit
Velveteen Rabbit is a child-centric, interactive, multilayered work that challenges theatrical norms. Placing the audience and their favourite toy at the centre of the performance, empowering children to write themselves into the story.
Taxi experiments with clashing forms, disrupting expectations of a visit to a traditional theatre setting. Bringing a sophisticated approach to audience agency and participation from decades of work in public space.
A meta-narrative is used to enlist audiences and invert hierarchies. The toys on stage explain to the children’s own toys that they are making a movie of the book. Toys are the boss here, and children their co-conspirators.
Adult actors are merely in service as puppeteers, techs, and assistants in the genre of clown. In this child’s eye view of the world we play with scale and perspective. Tiny toys being puppeteered within a doll's house are projected huge via a live video feed that streams and projects both on and off-stage action.
Puppetry style inspired by real children’s play, taking imaginative leaps, making and breaking rules. Adult characters are only represented through distorted shadows and soundscapes. The Rabbit is the emotional anchor, truth is felt through song, poetry, and narration, lighting a pathway through the crafted chaos.
Creative Development and Premiere
Creative development will continue throughout March, April and May, before the show is premiered at Monash University Alexander Theatre, during Family Fiesta, June 28 - June 31st, 2023.
Commissioned by Monash Performing Arts Centres and supported by Creative Victoria.
Cast
Written, Devised, and Performed by Penny Baron, Carolyn Hanna, and Fiona Roake
Co-Direction: Penny Baron, Carolyn Hanna, and Lily Fish
Songwriter: Fiona Roake
Sound Design/ Music Composition: Michael Havir
Lighting/AV Design and Production Management: Robert Brown
Set Design and Construction and Costume Design - David Splatt
Costume Design and Construction: Nick Barlow
Roving Camera Operator: Liz Everett