Show
Cerita Anak
(Child’s Story)
Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) takes children and their adults on a sea journey never to be forgotten.
A collaboration between Polyglot Theatre and Papermoon Puppet Theatre
Climb aboard and be rocked and rolled across a strange ocean, dive to the bottom of the sea, hear stories on the wind and in the currents of the water and face great danger before coming to safe harbour.
Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) draws its inspiration from the seafaring history in Java and a small boy’s true tale of arrival as a refugee. Combining puppetry, projection, light and sound, the show is an utterly immersive adventure that takes its audience on a real journey in a moving boat. Audience members, both young and old, will be transported by this exquisite encounter.
Polyglot and Papermoon Puppet Theatre (Indonesia) worked with local children from a fishing village north of Java and with children at a school in Melbourne’s west, to conceive and create this adventure.
“It made my bones feel stronger.” Child, aged 2
Audience Engagement
This unique work can offer audience engagement from two perspectives:
- The inner audience is made up of child and adult pairs who enter the boat as passengers and fully participate in the work.
- The outer audience is made up of other family members, older children and members of the general public. They are seated in traditional theatre seats and watch the work as a piece of theatre.
Original Creative Team
- Directors: Sue Giles, Maria Tri Sulistyani
- Conceived: Sue Giles, Maria Tri Sulistyani, Anna Tregloan, Steph O’Hara, Anton Farji
- Composer and sound design: Steph O’Hara
- Set and costume design: Anna Tregloan
- Lighting design: Richard Vabre
- Original cast: Pambo Priyojati, Sonya Suares, Emily Tomlins
- Production managers: Elise Brokensha, Rainbow Sweeny
- Stage manager: Lyndie Li Wan Po
- Animator: Wulang Sunu
- Costume maker: Amanda Carr
- Set construction: Darryl Cordell, Jim Stenson
- Puppet makers: Katrina Gaskell, Tamara Rewse
- Producers: Viv Rosman and Julie Wright – Polyglot Theatre
- Contributing artists: Iwan Effendi, Anton Fajri, Wulang Sunu and the Papermoon Puppet Theatre team
- Community collaborators: Dinjerra Primary School, Polyglot’s Inspiring People’s Society (PIPS), ArtPlay, the children of Lasem and Kepek in Java(Indonesia) and TRY Kinder (South Yarra)
After two creative processes in Indonesia, Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) had its final stage of development at ArtPlay in Melbourne in 2016, before its world premiere season at Arts Centre Melbourne in April 2017, as part of the inaugural Asia TOPA. Polyglot and collaborating partner Papermoon Puppet Theatre devised the work, along with children from the villages of Lasem and Kepek, and Dinjerra Primary School in Melbourne.
Selected Touring History
2019
- Octoburst, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore
- Art Space for Kids, Hangzhou and Beijing, China
2018
- Perth Festival, WA, Australia
- ARTJOG, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- OzAsia Festival, Adelaide, SA, Australia
2017
- Premiere: AsiaTOPA Festival, Arts Centre Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Acknowledgments
The development of Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) was generously supported by the Commonwealth through the Australia-Indonesia Institute of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, City of Melbourne through ArtPlay’s New Ideas Lab, Arts Centre Melbourne, Playking Foundation and Creative Partnerships Australia through Plus1.
Award Nominations
Cerita Anak (Child’s Story) was nominated for:
- 2018 Green Room Award – Work for Young Audiences
- 2017 Helpmann Award – Best Presentation for Children
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