THE story may have been written almost 90 years ago but there is something about Fremantle puppet company Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s The Velveteen Rabbit that sends punters into a ticket-buying frenzy when a new season is announced.
Published in 1922, the children’s book by English author Margery Williams (by then based in the US) tells the story of a boy and his toy rabbit, a toy that takes on a life of its own, in a much-loved and timeless tale that carries a considerable emotional payoff at its end.
Spare Parts general manager Cathcart Weatherley said The Velveteen Rabbit had drawn huge responses from the public since the company first staged it in 2005.
“My very first day working at Spare Parts was the day the season opened and it was absolute bedlam,” he said.
“The phones were screaming and there were thousands of people wanting tickets and it was chaos for two weeks.
“It did a similar sell out season at the Sydney Opera House in 2006, to the extent where I got a phone call from the producer saying the box office staff were getting abusive phone calls from grandmothers who can’t get tickets. Opera House staff were not used to that sort of thing.”
Mr Weatherly said there were two main reasons for the show’s popularity.
“Firstly, the book is very well known and much loved, particularly by an older generation who then say ‘I must take my grandchildren to see it’,” he said.
“Secondly, it is because the show itself is a really lovely work and a particularly beautiful rendition that people love.”
Mr Weatherley said the story contained elements mirrored decades later in early CGI film Toy Story.
“That film was about toys becoming real and having a life beyond inanimate objects, just as in The Velveteen Rabbit, when the big ones walk into the room the toys revert to being toys,” he said.
“The minute the big ones leave the room, they’re alive and well.”
The Velveteen Rabbit will play at Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle, from December 14-23, and again from January 18-30.