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SYNOPSIS
Scene 1. A young girl is given an old book from her great, great, great, great, great grandma and for the very first time she gets to tell the story to an audience. She is interrupted by a cheeky boy and they both realise that the book she has is too small for every one to see. With the help of the audience they find a huge book with the words, written in gold, 'The Great Big Story Book'. As they open the giant book the first page ‘pops up’ to reveal lush Australian scenery. The water cycle is then introduced through poetry, magic and puppetry.The girl realises that she has told her very first story. As she is about to tell her original story, a cockatoo comes out and starts to tell here about life in the outback. He takes her to a watering hole, where they can go for a swim. She promises the audience she will come back with another story.
Scene 2. The audience gets to engage with the book itself as the performers manipulate various puppets and gadgets from inside the book. The book comes alive with colour and movement. Native animals, insects, grubs, birds, bats and a giant rainbow snake emerge and disappear.
Scene 3. Mrs Emu, a marionette puppet, enters the stage and interacts with the audience. The girl comes back from a swim and gets the audience to tell her all the animals they have seen. From behind tiddalik appears and causes trouble and confusion for the girl. Which frog is it? Which story does he come from? Once she realizes who he is, Tiddalik starts drinking all the water in the world.
Scene 4. The second page is revealed showing a desert and a huge frog. One by one the distraught animals realize there is no water and the terrible effect it will have on their environment. With the help of the audience, the puppets try to find a way to make Tiddalik give all the water back. They decide the best idea is to make him laugh so the water will come gushing out of his mouth. But how? A spider dances on his head, audience members tell jokes, goanna does a funny dance, they even asking politely but Tiddalik does not laugh. Finally by everybody standing up and pulling funny faces, Tiddalik starts to laugh and returns the water.
Scene 5. A giant blue material covers the audience. As the ‘water’ begins to flow again, the cycle continues, flowers bloom and a rainbow emerges from the last page of the book. Balance has been restored. The book closes and written on the back of the book - The End
"Performance has been adapted most successfully to suit the age group of the audience. The Big Storybook was a novel and magical approach; combined with the skill of the presenters and appeal of the life size animal puppets, altogether a memorable performance of this Dreamtime story.
"Our young students (3 and 4 year olds) were totally engrossed by the performance as were their teachers. Enthusiastic involvement from start to finish."
-Colleen Rowe, Camberwell Girls' Grammar School.
"We loved the show. We thought Matt and Ilena were very professional and they told the story very well, with lots of drama."
- Jan Robertson, Presbyterian Ladies' College.
"The GREAT BIG STORYBOOK
performances were magical. John and Petra brough
every creature to life and captivated every member
of the audience. It was exciting to walk past
and see a crowd full of happy faces at every performance."
-Floriade - Australia's Celebration of Spring,
Canberra.
"We have been very
impressed with his [Ian's'] careful research and
the high quality of his productions."
-National Museum of Australia.
Want to know more? View a short clip here.
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