Festival to support Deaf community

Tuesday, 2 April 2019

This year the Southland Arts Festival is helping to make award-winning theatre accessible to all.

A Deaf interpretation show of The Road That Wasn’t There will be performed as part of the Festival in Invercargill on Saturday 27 April 2019.

Following a successful partnership with Connect Interpreting in 2018, it was decided to offer signed interpretation for the award-winning puppetry and shadow play show.

Festival Director Angela Newell said offering a Deaf interpreted show is part of the Festival’s commitment to supporting diversity and accessibility.

“We’re excited to be able to provide the opportunity for more people to experience this amazing show and reach out to those who would normally find spoken theatre inaccessible,” she said.

As the latest work from The Trick of the Light Theatre Company, The Road That Wasn’t There features puppetry, special effects, music and story-telling to seamlessly create a magical theatrical experience.

Called "thoroughly enchanting and totally engrossing... a must see show," by the Dominion Post, the show is a fascinating story reminiscent of the works of Margaret Mahy and Neil Gaiman (Coraline).

Based upon New Zealand’s streets and towns that exist only on maps, the show explores what happens when a girl follows the map off the edge of the world and discovers a land of possibility with frighteningly real consequences.

Festival Director Angela Newell said adults and older children (eight years +) will find it a captivating piece of theatre.

“From the twitchy edges of children’s literature, audiences can look forward to a charming, funny and memorable show,” she said.

The show, which was awarded the Best Children’s Event at the Adelaide Fringe in 2016, will play in Invercargill at SIT Centrestage Theatre on Saturday 27 April at 6:30pm, and in Te Anau at the Fiordland Events Community Centre on Sunday 28 April at 6:30pm.

Newell encouraged audiences to make the most of the award-winning theatre company being in Southland.

“We hope that people of all ages, sectors and ability are able to enjoy this creative piece of theatre,” she said.

Tickets can be purchased from TicketDirect, with door sales, subject to availability, available one hour prior to the show.

ENDS

For more information please contact Angela Newell, festival director, at Venture Southland, email angela@venturesouthland.co.nz or phone 021516387

A high resolution photo can be found here

ends

© Scoop Media