The Travelling Light Project was created by artist Rosy Thurston, a puppeteer and theatre-maker from the UK. Her aim is to gather 196 objects, one from every country on earth, and squeeze them inside a suitcase to create a travelling performance. This is Intimate object theatre on a global scale.
Now with more than 100 weird and wonderful objects tucked inside the suitcase, Rosy will share her Australian premiere of The World in Suitcase at Melbourne Fringe Festival Westside 2019, performing in the beautiful Bluestone Church Arts Space in Footscray this month.
This work fuses Rosy’s background in Object Theatre with her collaborative approach to theatre making. She says “using art as a tool to connect with others has always been a fundamental part of my artistic practice, the Travelling Light Project takes it to the next level; I am trying to connect the whole world through art”.
To date, Rosy has received over 100 objects sent from more than 100 people in 100 different countries. The objects are a mix of physical and virtual ones. They include items such as a Yulebok (a straw goat) sent from Sweden, a sound recording of peacocks from India and a Larimar Stone that can only be found in the Dominican Republic. The performance The World in a Suitcase is inspired by the stories behind the objects; a tiny pair of Guatemalan-made baby booties, worn in the UK, now come to life on the feet of a puppet of patchwork origins. Hand-painted stones from Germany build a wall against the backdrop of a film sent from The Freedom Theatre in Palestine. Together these objects tell the story of humanity, a global community.
The objects are brought to life by a lone traveller, who seems to have lost her way. Through puppetry, object manipulation, clowning, music and interactive projections, the traveller will take you on a journey around the world, crossing borders, connecting people and places in a celebration of global citizenship.
The World in a Suitcase is an intimate, interactive small-scale performance, created to be accessible to a multilingual and multicultural audience of all ages. The work is a restorative antidote to current global political outlooks; instead of building walls, The World in a Suitcase transcends them, connecting people, places, and objects on a global scale.
The World in a Suitcase
18 – 22 Sept 2019
7.00pm + Saturday 21st 2.00pm
Bluestone Church Arts Space,
8A Hyde Street, Footscray 3011.
Full: $18 / Concession: $15
Book: melbournefringe.com.au or call (03) 9660 9666
