MAGICAL and meaningful, IMAGINE LIVE is a celebration of creativity, friendship and our precious natural world. With the help of the audience, performers play and sing their way through the pages of Imagine, and quickly discover there is WAY more to these pages than they first thought. Spot a leopard, dive with a dolphin or dig up a dinosaur as this iconic book springs into life before your eyes.
IMAGINE LIVE is an innovative, artistically rigorous work using cutting-edge body mapping digital puppetry, face recognition technology, animation, original music and participatory storytelling.
Underscored by a beautiful music score, characters and objects travel between real and animated worlds. IMAGINE LIVE oscillates between Imagine's iconic natural environments and the playful home setting of the children. Projection screens work seamlessly with oversized props and puppets skillfully brought to life by live performers and digital puppeteers. The players use creativity to connect a long-distance video call between a granddaughter and grandmother, enjoying a nostalgic connection with their favourite book, Imagine.
Relevant to both multi-generational and diverse audiences, the show is a reminder that connection, creativity and play are essential ingredients for positive mental health.
IMAGINE LIVE’s deep environmental theme invites us to look beyond our backyards into a shared and richly beautiful world. A stage adaptation by Jolyon James, a multidisciplinary visual artist, writer and performance maker, who shared that it’s a beautiful iconic book, and Alison Lester is so cherished as an author. “What I love particularly about this book is that it is for me whenever I read it to my two children, unlike other books, it was like a permission to play,” said Jolyon.
“We went out to visit Alison on her property before we started because we wanted to go right back to the beginning and really honour the source of this, and she’s so humble.”
In watching the performance herself, Alison said, It’s exquisite! So rich, real, layered and perfect for kids. “I kept having to pinch myself that Imagine was my book, I feel so honoured.”
Building on the knowledge and success gained in the creation of Helpmann Award winning show, Robot Song, IMAGINE LIVE reunites the creative team Ashlea Pyke, Nate Gilkes, Phillip McInnes and welcomes Eliza Hull as an Access Inclusion Consultant to create an experience that is as enjoyable as it is transformative.
A show for the whole family. Tickets are available at www.basscoastculturalvenues.com/live-at-berninneit-cowes
