Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time at Purcell Room

Inspired by stories of plastic waste in the oceans forming their own floating islands, Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time is touring the UK this Autumn, opening at the Southbank Centre in London. Directed by Sue Buckmaster (Artistic Director of Theatre-Rites; Chotto Desh, Akram Khan Company, Sadler's Wells; The Welcoming Party, Manchester International Festival and the Ruhrtriennale Festival) and written by Jimmy Osborne (The Incredible Tale of Robot Boy, Theatre-Rites; Maisie Says She Loves Me, VAULT Festival) with Sue Buckmaster this magical tale will be told through visual storytelling, dialogue, some use of BSL and Theatre-Rites award-winning puppetry.

Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time is part of Theatre-Rites’ sustainable programme of Reinventing and Reimagining Existing Work. Play is at the heart of the development process ensuring that challenging themes can be approached in engaging and joyful ways to create a captivating and thought-provoking experience for children and their accompanying adults.

This exciting time-travelling adventure will see Zoe catapulted a hundred years into the future to an island made entirely of plastic waste.

Every object in the production has been created from either found objects or non-single-use plastics.  The show, originally a co-production between award-winning Theatre-Rites and Burgtheater Vienna, is part of the continued commitment from the company to playfully and thoughtfully explore environmental and climate crisis issues.

Shanez Pattni (Home I’m Darling, National Theatre/UK Tour; Butterflies, UK Tour) is the inquisitive Zoe. The scavengers accompanying her on the journey are puppeteers Eden Harbud (Terra Incognita, Temper Theatre; The Lanterns, Chester Zoo ) and Teele Uustani (Macbeth, Paper Cinema; Prototype, Zou Theatre), as well as actress Benedetta Zanetti (FunnyBones, Oldham Libraries; Creatures, Imaginate/PappyShow).

Sue Buckmaster, Director, comments, When we created the original production of Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time in Vienna, I always hoped we could tour the show and I’m delighted to be able to reimagine it for UK audiences. It seems more important than ever to recycle and this production is part of Theatre-Rites’ commitment to reusing puppets and props, taking existing work and adapting it for new audiences. This connects to the themes of the show which playfully explores plastic pollution and the need to think about moving away from anything being single-use. It is also at the heart of what Theatre-Rites does, which is to empower children to reflect on the possibilities for their world and give them access to quality international theatre.

Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time will open in September at the Southbank Centre and then visit Plymouth Theatre Royal, Kristiansand Kilden Theatre (Norway), Polka Theatre and finish at Lakeside Nottingham.