About

By Finegan Kruckemeyer

 

A boy wakes to finds he has grown. He recognises the stranger in the mirror, but his parents, his town do not. Outside his childhood bedroom he finds a bird that cannot fly and together the strangers embark on adventures.

This is the story about their journey to the big city, what they find there, what they join in and what they make themselves. A story about flying from nests, birdsong and growing up.

From Slingsby, the award winning company that created the internationally acclaimed hit The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy, comes this enveloping world of pearly prose, lustrous live music, melancholia and sunshine.

 

 

Highlights reel

Meet the creative team

Andy Packer

CEO & Artistic Director

Andy is an award-winning director of theatre, music theatre and opera.

Andy is an award-winning director of theatre, music theatre and opera. He has also worked as creative producer of multidisciplinary arts programs, creative director of large-scale events and festival director. In 2007 Andy co-founded Adelaide based theatre company Slingsby. The company is now well-established as a leading international immersive theatre company, having toured to more than 170 venues, with over 1,000 performances across 13 countries and counting.

Andy is renowned for creating original live performance moments that are emotionally powerful and visually bold. His work across theatre for young audiences, opera, cabaret, music theatre and symphonic concerts has pushed him to develop a distinctive theatrical aesthetic that is at once personal and epic.

Andy has directed productions and events for Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, State Opera of South Australia, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Chamber Singers, Australian String Quartet, Windmill Theatre, Restless Dance, Tutti Ensemble, Rundle Mall Management Authority and the International Astronautical Federation. In 2019 Andy was Show Director for the World of Wearable Art Awards Show in Wellington, New Zealand.

Finegan Kruckemeyer

Playwright

Finegan has had 86 commissioned plays performed on five continents and translated into eight languages. He has received 35 awards (at least one each year since 2002) including the 2017 Mickey Miners Lifetime Achievement Award (for services to international theatre for young audiences), the 2015 David Williamson Award for Excellence in Australian Playwrighting, and an inaugural Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship.

To date, Finegan’s plays have had seasons in: 200 international festivals; all Australian states/territories; eight US national tours; five UK national tours; and at the Sydney Opera House (six works), Scotland’s Imaginate Festival (three works), New York’s Lincoln Center for the Arts (three works), DC’s Kennedy Center for the Arts (three works), Ireland’s Abbey Theatre (two works) and Shanghai’s Malan Flower Theatre (two works).

Wendy Todd

Designer

Wendy is an Adelaide-based designer of theatre, events and spaces.

Wendy is an Adelaide-based designer of theatre, events and spaces. Recent production designs (Set & Costume Design for all productions) include: Nursery 2014, (Sally Chance Dance), Babyteeth 2013, Blasted 2012, Pornography 2012 (State Theatre Company of South Australia), Land & Sea 2012, Skip Miller’s Hit Songs 2011, Harbinger 2010 (Brink Productions), Man Covets Bird 2010, The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy 2007 (Slingsby), Worldhood 2011 (Australian Dance Theatre), A Lion In The Night 2012, The Little Green Tractor 2011 (Patch Theatre Company), Cutaway III, 2013 & II, 2012 (Vitalstatistix), Ruby Bruise 2010 (The Misery Children & Vitalstatistix). Recent event designs: Designer Blink Bar 2015 Adelaide Festival of Arts Precinct, Design Assistant/Coordinator Lola’s Pergola 2014, Design Coordinator of Barrio 2013 & 2012, Assistant Designer Persian Garden 2008 & 2006 (Late Night Clubs of the Adelaide Festival of Arts), Event and Gala Designer Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2015, Design Coordinator Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2014 (Adelaide Festival Centre), Bowerbird Design Markets 2014, 2013, 2012.

Geoff Cobham

Artstic Associate - Lighting

Geoff has worked as an Event Producer, Production Manager, Lighting Designer, Set Designer, Public Artist and Venue Designer. His work has ranged from many smaller innovative productions to large scale theatre/dance productions, festivals, art exhibitions, events, museums and venue creation.

Geoff has worked as an Event Producer, Production Manager, Lighting Designer, Set Designer, Public Artist and Venue Designer. His work has ranged from many smaller innovative productions at the Performance Space, Queens Theatre, Belvoir, Red Shed, non-theatre venues (tents, warehouses and more) to large-scale theatre/dance productions, festivals, art exhibitions, events, museums and venue creation. His love of light and dance has led him to work with many of Australia’s top choreographers and allowed him to explore the endless combinations of colour, angle, intensity, and movement, of light. With his company Bluebottle he has designed many lighting installations and lit public artworks, buildings, landscapes and freeways. Geoff received a Churchill Fellowship in 2010 to study Outdoor Theatre in Europe. This led to the creation of Barrio, inspired by the “participatory theatre” movement currently sweeping Europe. Finding innovative ways to involve community and other industry in Events was at the heart of Barrio. Its success was in the unique way it gave its audience ownership of the event. Geoff has been working on Festivals since the late 80s when he began working for Sydney Festival. He subsequently went on to become an integral part of the senior management teams of the Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival and Womadelaide Festival. Recent Awards include: 2015 Helpmann Award for Best Scenic Design for Little Bird; Ruby Award for Sustained Contribution; Green Room Award Best lighting Design for Night Letters; Sydney Theatre Award Best Lighting Design for Never Did Me Any Harm. Geoff is Slingsby’s Artistic Associate (Design).

Quincy Grant

Composer

Quincy has spent his life being a freelance composer and musician.

Quincy has spent his life being a freelance composer and musician. He has played and written for many bands over the decades, in many different styles – the most recent being the despicable gypsy band Golonka and the folk outfit Miranda Bede. 

He has written over seventy works for soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras that have been performed in hundreds of concerts. And written the music for over forty theatre works, for companies all over Australia, with his second opera being scheduled for performance in 2025. 

He has toured many countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. 

He is co-director of The Firm, a company that presents concerts each year featuring Australian classical musicians in programmes of new Australian music along-side carefully chosen repertoire. 

Quincy lives in Adelaide with his dear Anna, and has three children: Arland, Clara and Miranda.

Production Credits

  • Writer Finegan Kruckemeyer
  • Starring Nathan O'Keefe
  • Musician Cam Goodall
  • Musician Anya Anastasia
  • Musician Quincy Grant
  • Director Andy Packer
  • Composer Quincy Grant
  • Designer Wendy Todd
  • Lighting Design Dave Green
  • Initial Design Concept Geoff Cobham
  • Animation People's Republic Of Animation
  • Imagery Andy Ellis
  • Stage Manager Roland Partis

Production Credits

What people are saying

“***** [five stars]…brilliant feelgood family theatre with a depth that speaks to any generation.” Sunday Mail

“…like a beautiful children's book, a treasured bedtime story with illustrations which come to life before our eyes. ” The Advertiser

“***** [five stars]...I’m not ashamed to say that at one point, where O’Keefe directly encourages the audience to close their eyes and just listen to the birdsong, I did just that and wept a little at the emotion the play had managed to stoke within me. ” Jessica Taurins, Theatrepeople.com.au

“Best show I’ve ever seen!!! Everyone involved should be very proud. Thank you for a wonderful production!!! 10/10” Chantelle Detchon, Facebook, Goolwa, South Australia

“My 10 year old son was in tears at tonight's performance. Thank you for such a wonderful and emotional journey. ”

Lindy Walsh, Facebook, Sydney, Australia

Educational Resources