Arts Centre Melbourne Will Present Trick Of The Light Theatre’s THE BOOKBINDER
Acclaimed one-man production returns to Australia with its award-winning blend of storytelling and stagecraft.
Trick of the Light Theatre will bring its award-winning production THE BOOKBINDER to Arts Centre Melbourne, where the one-man show will be performed in The Show Room.
The production will offer a darkly imaginative blend of storytelling, pop-up design, puppetry, and live performance set inside a bookbinder’s workshop. After acclaimed seasons across the UK, Australia, North America, South Africa, China, and New Zealand, the work will return to Melbourne for a limited engagement.
The story unfolds as an old bookbinder begins reading the tale of a former apprentice, allowing the narrative to spill from the page and into the workshop through shifting theatrical craft. Writer-performer Ralph McCubbin Howell describes the work as an epic told on an intimate scale, beginning as a seemingly traditional tale before expanding into unexpected territory. First staged in the back room of a second-hand bookshop, The Bookbinder has earned honors including Best Theatre and Best of the Fringe (NZ Fringe), Best Children’s Show (Fringe World Perth), and the International Excellence Award (Sydney Fringe), and previously sold out an extended run at Melbourne Fringe in 2014.
Inspired by dark fairytales in the vein of Coraline and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, the production is suitable for adults and children ages eight and up. Trick of the Light Theatre, founded in Wellington by Hannah Smith and Ralph McCubbin Howell, is known for crafting inventive, contemporary works ranging from political satire to cross-over storytelling for multigenerational audiences.
TICKETING INFORMATION
Performances will take place in The Show Room at Arts Centre Melbourne from April 23–25, 2026. Tickets will be available through Arts Centre Melbourne.
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