Something very long, very colourful and very hungry is coming to the Arts Centre Melbourne for a limited season. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show brings Eric Carle’s classic children’s picture book to life on stage in a masterful theatrical performance.
Tots and tykes will watch wide-eyed as the Arts Centre Melbourne uses a veritable menagerie of colourful puppets (there’s 75 in total) to recreate the much-loved book. Since it was first published in 1969, the gluttonous caterpillar has delighted children as it ate its way through one apple on Monday, all the way through to its junk food feast on Saturday.
As well as watching Carle’s famous caterpillar eat and (spoiler alert) grow into a beautiful butterfly, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show also enchants children with faithful adaptations of three more of the author’s picture books: The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, The Very Lonely Firefly and Mister Seahorse.
The Australian-made theatre production lifts Eric Carle’s dainty, tissue-paper collage illustrations off the page with the help of New York puppet studio, Puppet Kitchen. The show has been created by Jonathan Rockefeller (a past protégé of Australian director Baz Luhrmann) and directed by Naomi Edwards (who previously directed a children’s opera titled When Moon Dust Falls).
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show will take to the stage at Playhouse for five days only from November 28 to December 2. The 50-minute show is best suited for children aged three to eight. There are Auslan interpreted and relaxed performances available.