Award-winning company Trick of the Light Theatre is heading to Arts Centre Melbourne with The Bookbinder – a wildly inventive one-man show set in a bookbinder’s workshop playing in The Show Room from 23 – 25 April 2026.
After sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and a sweep of awards around the world, this darkly magical, pocket-sized production will delight curious children and adventurous adults.
An old bookbinder sits down to read the tale of an erstwhile apprentice. As he speaks the story spills from the pages and into the bindery – from pop-up book to puppetry, storytelling to live action.
“It’s an epic adventure in miniature,” says writer and performer Ralph McCubbin Howell, “Whilst it might at first appear a standard storytelling, it swiftly spirals into something quite unexpected…”
First staged in the back room of a second hand bookshop, The Bookbinder has gone on to tour the UK, Australia, USA, Canada, South Africa, and China – from the Lincoln Center, NYC, to the attic of Aotearoa’s oldest bookbindery.
Its awards include Best Theatre and Best of the Fringe (NZ Fringe), Best Children’s Show (Fringe World, Perth), and the International Excellence Award (Sydney Fringe). The show also enjoyed a sold-out extended run at Melbourne Fringe in 2014.
A dark fairytale in the vein of Coraline, and Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell, The Bookbinder is suitable for adults and older children (8+).
Trick of the Light is an award-winning theatre company from Te Whanganui-A-Tara (Wellington) in Aotearoa / New Zealand, founded by Hannah Smith and Ralph McCubbin Howell. They like to make theatre that is playful, inventive, thought-provoking, and that speaks to the here and now.
Their shows range from dark cross-over works for adults and older children to biting political satire, but are unified by their engaging, nuanced stories, inventive design, and belief that theatre should resonate with the wider world.
“With storytelling of the highest quality, Trick Of The Light have created something truly beautiful” – Three Weeks, Edinburgh
The Bookbinder
The Show Room – Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Season: 23 – 25 April 2026
Information and Bookings: www.artscentremelbourne.com.au
Image: The Bookbinder – photo by Philip Merry | axolotl photography