cubbyhouse co. presents
BY'S
WISH
"one of the most charming theatre shows for children produced in recent years...and its themes are more relevant than ever." - The Guardian
“I gave it 9.2 out of 10”
Scarlett Wallace aged 10 – The Australian
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U
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an overactive imagination JUST might save your life
Ruby’s Wish is a heart warming, low-fi, visual spectacular for kids and all the family.
Mixing puppets with people and true stories with false, it’s a tale spun at the edge of fantasy and reality. It asks you to wonder “What’s real and what’s pretend”
Ruby is seven…and three quarters. She is everything a little girl should be: brazen, hopeful and bright-eyed. But unlike other little girls Ruby spends most of her time in hospital. It’s because she’s very sick. Ruby doesn’t believe in fairy stories any more but she does believe in wishes. And she’ll do anything to make hers come true.
Ruby’s Wish combines beautiful puppets from Erth, low-fi animation from the brilliant Tim Watts, sensational clowning, heart felt performances, original music, shadow play, imagery and a magical beat boxing costume, to weave a truly original and magical story of friendship across the generations.
It’s clever, meta-theatre for kids where we play a game of make believe with our audience and invite them to suspend their disbelief. In fact we demand it!
Dot is a grown up, who is misunderstood. She misunderstands, misinterprets, miss-speaks, mistakes…mostly she just mistrusts – words that is. Luckily, Dot works as a clown doctor where words are hardly ever needed. She uses sound and music and mime. She even has a best friend called Russell who doesn’t speak at all, because he’s made entirely out of paper…Perfect.
Hospitals can be strange, especially for a kid. As Ruby and Dot form an unlikely friendship, her hospital room becomes a wonderland of mop monsters, giant paper cranes and magical jazz clubs that appear out of thin air. Beds become caves and boats on the high seas, drip stands become swords and tiny paper puppets take on a life of their own as Dot helps Ruby overcome her fears and face up to an invincible enemy. All in the name of making her wish come true.
Reuniting the creative team that brought you the hit show Cubbyhouse (MakeBElive Productions: Tamarama Rock Surfers; The Public Theater, New York), Ruby’s Wish is playfully simple yet visually stunning.
It’s a theatrical trip for all the family, which celebrates the imagination and proves there’s no harm in believing.
In fact an overactive imagination might just save your life.