The Arrival

This is theatre and digital animation at its most exquisite.

Enter a strange and fantastical metropolis of floating ships, mysterious lights, alien symbols and curious animals.

Adapted from Shaun Tan’s multi-award winning book, The Arrival will take you on one man’s moving journey to an unknown world.

This unique theatrical experience traverses themes of freedom, migration, survival, love and acceptance.
Follow our hero Aki as he starts life amidst the extraordinary inhabitants of this new land. Will he find a place to live? Will he find a job and make friends? Most of all, will Aki ever see his family again?

The absence of words not only makes this story perfect for puppetry but emphasizes the isolation experienced by many people arriving in a new place.
The Arrival is a fusion of Tan’s beautiful and surreal illustrations with exquisite puppetry, haunting music and fine acting. This ground breaking production blurs the boundaries of performance, digital animation and puppetry.

Named ‘Best Production’ for 2006 at the Perth Theatre Trust/Actors Equity Guild Awards, this is an emotionally moving piece which will touch anyone who has bid farewell to a loved one.

‘…a soulful and richly imaginative show of refreshing excellence…This is exquisite story telling unfolding at a child’s pace as if turning the pages of Shaun Tan’s award winning book.’