Local children’s theatre company Stories and More brings its eighth children’s theatre show Theandrican to The Meteor just in time for the school holidays.
Following successful seasons of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in 2016 and The Magician’s Nephew in 2018, Stories and More returns with an equally magic family-friendly foray into another world.
An original play written by Owen Mooney, and adapted and directed by Stories and More founder Cecilia Mooney, the show follows three children who find themselves transported to the magical land of Theandrican after a game of hide and seek goes wrong. John, Linda and Zara must then race to find their way back home avoiding an evil wizard and enlisting the help of the magical people they meet along the way.
“The whole show is very magical,” says Director Cecilia Mooney. “We wanted to present a fairy tale that captures the imagination of young and old.”
Imaginations will certainly be captured with the characters such as Back to Front Girl (a girl who can only speak in reverse), Queen Patra (a wise oracle), the Liquorice Cats (cats who can talk) and the ever-eccentric Professors whose help can turn to hinderance at the flick of a switch featuring in the play.
A show cast predominantly from students in the Stories and More Drama classes (with some familiar adult faces too) Theandrican will mark the first time one stage for some performers.
“One of the greatest things to witness is children in the audience seeing children their own age on stage,” says Mooney. “They see our cast and realise theatre and being onstage is something they can do, too.”
Theandrican is children’s theatre made by and for children, something Stories and More has become known for with a tradition of including children from their drama classes in their shows.
“It’s so important to us the students in our drama classes get the opportunity to put what they’ve learned in class into practice,” says Mooney.
Suitable for families and all ages from 5 years and up, Theandrican will be running at The Meteor Theatre in the second week of the school holidays, October 5-12, with 11am shows on 5, 8 and 10 October, 2pm shows on the 6 and 12, and 7pm shows on the 5, 9, 10 and 11 October. For full show details and tickets visit http://themeteor.co.nz/event/theandrican/k