A grand, joyful, enchanting, dreamlike spectacle

"The Arrival held its audience in a state of rapture and curiosity" The New Zealand Herald

The Arrival takes you into the wondrous world of Shaun Tan's award-winning graphic novel.

Conceived to enchant all ages and without language barriers, Tan's imaginary world and its surreal creatures are lovingly rendered through expert puppetry and ingenious shadow play, with evocative music and movement.

An optimistic story of a stranger in a strange land, The Arrival will restore childlike innocence and curiosity, and send mind and spirit on a journey of discovery – to a magical land of flying ships, exotic birds and travelling balloons.

Leaving behind his wife and child, a man seeks better prospects in a foreign land. Baffled by indecipherable languages, peculiar customs, curious animals and dazzling architecture, he searches for accommodation, food and work – the foundation for reuniting his family – with help from sympathetic locals. The Arrival is heartwarming tale of overcoming hardship, of humanity and hope.

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Leap into the Magical World of The Arrival
by Rebecca Barry

It's a world of flying ships, curious creatures and travelling balloons. Barely any words are spoken, and yet The Arrival tells a story everyone can understand.

New Zealand theatre doyennes Kate Parker and Julie Nolan created their intriguing stage show when they adapted the eponymous picture book by artist Shaun Tan.

Named Australia's Picture Book of the Year in 2007, The Arrival cast a magic spell on all ages. "The book really captures the imagination," says Nolan, who directed the piece. "We wanted the show to capture people's hearts."

The Arrival is not only visually spectacular but moving to anyone who has travelled outside their homeland. A man is forced to leave his wife and daughter in search of a better life in a strange new land. Like the immigrant, the audience shares the man's exhausting experiences of the unknown: the long and perilous journey, the customs and rituals of the locals, the bizarre animals that live there.

What makes The Arrival truly special is its ability to tell a story without words. Nolan and Parker invented a language which is used sparsely throughout the show but the audience is predominantly guided by movement and music, moody vibraphone pieces composed by Andrew McMillan. The cast use acrobatic dance, shadow play and a few illusory theatre tricks to bring the storybook to life. They are joined on stage by expertly wielded puppets and exquisitely designed props.

Even the set, a remarkable achievement by acclaimed set designer John Verryt, is moved completely by hand. Aside from clever lighting and more than a few big visual surprises, the show's magic relies on very little modern technology.

"We've worked really hard on the physical language - it's very dynamic," says Nolan. "It's challenging because it's not conventional, and I think when people come to the theatre they expect to be told a story. It's obscure if you haven't seen the book, so the challenge was to figure out how far to clarify and when to leave the interpretation to the audience. It's walking a fine line."

Faithful to the sepia colours and nostalgic, fairytale quality of the book, Parker and Nolan brought Tan's unusual creatures to life: white paper birds swoop through the sky on bamboo poles, cute, curly-haired critters swarm on the ground and a friendly white animal yaps at the immigrant's feet.

"What inspired me were all the strange, otherworldly creatures he finds when he arrives in this new world," says Parker. "I saw them coming to life in cardboard and paper, I saw the fragility of that world."

Creating them required innovation and experimentation. The major character, rendered into a rather tricky egg shape, is made from camping mat and cheesecloth, and manipulated using sticks. Parker, who is also part of the cast, fashioned the creatures with a dedicated props team at the back of their Auckland rehearsal hall. Like most of their work, The Arrival was put together with an appreciation for simplicity.

Parker and Nolan met in 1995 while studying at the John Bolton Theatre School in Melbourne. They returned to New Zealand shortly after and quickly established themselves as entrepreneurial theatre artists, creating, performing, producing and teaching their craft. The pair have worked together on inventive productions such as Beyond the Blue, in which 12 young women set out on a journey to explore the adventures of history's most courageous women. Much like The Arrival, that story was told with minimal dialogue, and big ideas were conveyed with just the prowess of physical acting.

"Our work is unconventional but that's why we love it," says Nolan. "We're carving out a point of difference. Kate makes things and I'm attracted to narrative and structure so as a combination we're a good balance. For us it's not just about making it a spectacle, it has to have heart and character."

They were just as determined to find the human story behind The Arrival. Nolan and Parker researched the show by visiting migrants and refugees and listening to their stories. Much like Tan's sophisticated drawings, the production touches on the notion of ethnic cleansing: an ominous black dragon's tail winds its way through the dark streets, shadows create the illusion of giant, people-eating vacuum cleaners.

"Migrants and locals both have things to learn," says Parker. "It's about learning to respect each other's backgrounds and allowing for individuals' expressions. We talked to some amazing people who'd been through incredible situations where they'd had to leave so much behind. It's about stepping into someone else's shoes."

Carla van Zon, International Manager of Creative New Zealand says the power of The Arrival's message was evident when a group of school children came to the show. "It was a truly extraordinary afternoon - the kids were whispering to one another, 'Wow, he's on a boat' but there were absolutely no words, and the boat was made from old suitcases. The lead actor's face tells you everything. Everybody identifies with the story

Rebecca Barry is an Auckland-based freelance journalist, specialising in arts, entertainment and travel writing.