Imagine stepping into an illustrated collection of fairytale-inspired worlds. Each contains a magical and hope-inspiring tale where fears are confronted, truths are winkled out, and themes both timeless and contemporary are explored. Three self-contained original stories, inspired by classic fairytales, intertwine and layer as a meaningful triptych. A Concise Compendium of Wonder examines humanity’s shifting relationship with nature across almost 2,000 years.

An assembly of award-winning Australian writers will re-imagine three classic stories:  The Giant’s Garden by Ursula Dubosarsky (inspired by Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant), The Tree of Light by Ceridwen Dovey (inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl) and [Title to be announced] by Jennifer Mills (inspired by the Brothers Grimm’s Hansel and Gretel).

Through these stories, Slingsby will illuminate what humans have gained and what we have lost, as we have moved from living in the forest to a rural setting to an urban forest of buildings. And now, from this unnatural landscape, we look out to space and consider relocating to planets beyond. A Concise Compendium of Wonder considers the environment in both form and content.

Each story in the triptych is a stand-alone performance. Audiences may attend just one production, see all three across a season or step into an epic experience of three shows back-to-back, in a set that continually reveals new surprises. The design world will evolve across the productions as we traverse 2,000 years of humankind’s interaction with the landscape.

Using Slingsby’s internationally renowned theatre techniques of shadow, light-play, original music, and miniatures, this work is epic in its intricacy rather than scale. This is an original performance experience that responds to the current climate crisis, while being a multi-faceted, precious jewel that inspires hope for the future.

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Look & Feel

A triptych is an artwork made up of three pieces or panels. The form is often used to impart narrative, create a sequence, or show different elements of the same subject matter.

These three touring productions will be performed in an enclosed designed world that holds seeds of all three stories: the forest, the settled village, and the future city. The performance space will be a portable wooden building that can be erected in a town hall, studio or on a proscenium arch stage.

An audience of 130 people of all ages will be invited into this wooden meeting house and into the world of each story through a range of participatory immersive experiences.

Reducing our Environmental Impact

Slingsby is committed to reducing the climate impact of its art making and touring. A Concise Compendium of Wonder – a triptych will help us to achieve our environmental ambition, strategically linked to our Green Touring Model, to eliminate more greenhouse gas pollution than we create.

Using a slower touring model also allows for an extended stay in each venue and for the touring artists to engage with local artists and community through a series of workshops and engagements.

A Concise Compendium of Wonder will be presented as a triptych: three productions on one set with one cast, reducing the overall climate impact. Told side by side, a more complex and urgent story about the natural world emerges from this collection of tales.

Find out more about Slingsby’s Climate Action, here.

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