By Jessica Taurins
Nobody really grows out of enjoying fairytales. No matter what we say to ourselves, it’s easy to be sucked back into worlds of mystery and magic, where mistakes jumpstart an adventure and a moral ending is to be expected.
The Bookbinder is one of these delightful tales for the entire family – it has jokes for the young ones and danger for the edgy teens, while parents and kids-at-heart get to enjoy the whole gorgeously presented package.
The story, by theatre company Trick of the Light, premiered in 2014 in Wellington, New Zealand (Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa) and has since travelled the world a number of times to captivate all sorts of audiences. In the sold-out Melbourne Arts Centre theatre, the gentle hum of the crowd goes silent as the house lights go down and the stage lights come up, just three lamps present both in our world and the world of the show.
Ralph McCubbin Howell (actor and writer), as the unnamed narrator, spins the tale across the 55-minute show entirely alone, with only lights, shadows, and puppets as support. The story is fairly simple as a summary – boy is dragged into an adventure in a bewitched book, saves himself and the world around him – but the nuance and charm are in its presentation.
The set – by Hannah Smith – is a bookbinder’s shop, decorated with old shelves and the tools of a binder’s craft. Occasionally, to the crowd’s delight, the tools themselves become puppets, Howell tapping them across the desk for their five seconds of fame. Howell moves around the set as though it’s a second home, even during moments when the lights go out. The lamps across the stage are used to create all sorts of shapes – clouds, the moon, even huge monsters in the darkness – in addition to being used as mini shadowboxes for shadow puppetry. Smith’s creativity in the use of light and shadow is key to the enjoyment of the show and makes what could be a stereotypical story into a stunning piece of theatre.
When accompanied by Tane Upjohn Beatson’s sound design, the set and its surrounding world (inspired by Aotearoa’s South Island) grows to surround not just Howell but the audience as well. Beatson’s compositions work harmoniously alongside Howell’s performance to underscore our reception of joyful moments, or fearful ones, then breathes out alongside us as the tension passes.
Howell is ostensibly the star performer, but the real magic of the show comes from the bound book itself, crafted by Smith and Howell. The story of The Bookbinder, when not told in the real world, comes from a truly stunning handcrafted pop-up book, showing us what the young boy sees when he’s trapped in the pages. Howell uses gentle sleight of hand to move the paper puppets across the pages as he acts out conversations and describes each scene, turning the audience back into little kids watching a librarian read aloud.
From start to finish, The Bookbinder is an incredible watch. Howell’s narration flows over the crowd like a gentle fog while he juggles puppets, shadows, and, incredibly, a monster in a water jug, proudly supported by the set and sound design from Smith and Beatson.
As is probably evident from the near-constant performances since 2014, The Bookbinder is a story that will never end, nor should it. It feels as though it could be required viewing for any kid with a wild imagination, and any adult who never forgot what it’s like to be young and cheeky.
