THE BOOKBINDER Run Extended at Arts Centre Melbourne
The Bookbinder is a wildly inventive one-man show set in a bookbinder's workshop.
Due to popular demand, The Bookbinder season at Arts Centre Melbourne has been extended with two extra performances added on Thursday 30 April and Friday 1 May 2026.
From award-winning company Trick of the Light Theatre, The Bookbinder is a wildly inventive one-man show set in a bookbinder's workshop. The work has enjoyed sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and a sweep of awards from around the globe.
This darkly magical, pocket-sized production is a delight to curious children and adventurous adults. It's the story of an old bookbinder who sits down to read the tale of an erstwhile apprentice. As he speaks the story spills from the pages and into the bindery - from pop-up book to puppetry, storytelling to live action.
“It's an epic adventure in miniature. Whilst it might at first appear a standard storytelling, it swiftly spirals into something quite unexpected,” says writer and performer Ralph McCubbin Howell.
First staged in the back room of a second hand bookshop, The Bookbinder toured the UK, Australia, USA, Canada, South Africa, and China – from NYC's Lincoln Center to the attic of Aotearoa's oldest bookbindery. Its awards include Best Theatre and Best of the Fringe (NZ Fringe), Best Children's Show (Fringe World, Perth), and the International Excellence Award (Sydney Fringe). The show also enjoyed a sold-out extended run at Melbourne Fringe in 2014.
A dark fairytale in the vein of Coraline, and Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell, The Bookbinder is suitable for adults and older children (8+).
Trick of the Light is an award-winning theatre company from Te Whanganui-A-Tara (Wellington) in Aotearoa / New Zealand, founded by Hannah Smith and Ralph McCubbin Howell. They like to make theatre that is playful, inventive, thought-provoking, and that speaks to the here and now. Their shows range from dark cross-over works for adults and older children to biting political satire, but are unified by their engaging, nuanced stories, inventive design, and belief that theatre should resonate with the wider world.
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