Aurora

WHAT: AURORA

WHEN: 16-26th Nov 2011 @ 730pm. Matinee's Sun 20th, 2pm & Sat 26th, 4pm.

WHERE: Old Library, Rust Ave.

TICKETS: $12 & $17 from Old Library Ph. 430-6042

When a freak solar event causes a jet liner to ditch in the ocean, seventeen kids from around New Zealand and the world, aged 8 to 13, must pull together and use their imaginations to survive. It’s a gripping tale full of action, heart and humour that takes its audience on journey where hope, imagination and pragmatism are the keys to survival.

Based on a genuine threat to our planet, the play begins when a mass coronal ejection from the sun (a HUGE solar flare) causes an aurora to envelop the planet: it's an electromagnetic storm of immense beauty and danger: It causes power grids to fail, electronics to fry and satellites to fall from the sky.

A national junior athletic team is traveling to New Caledonia for the Oceania Championships when the aurora causes their plane to ditch in the ocean. The team gets separated from their parents in the ensuing chaos, only to be washed ashore on a deserted island!

That is where the play begins and their quest for survival, rescue and camaraderie begins.

The cast are, like their characters, are aged 8-13. The play has been specifically written for them by Peter Larsen who penned last year’s acclaimed NYT Junior Show, Metamorphosis, and Lithium Kiss, which made the grand finale of Sydney's Short&Sweet international play festival.

Jarrod Martin directs the ensemble in his second collaboration with Larsen and the NYT Junior Company, after calling last year’s show the most rewarding of his directing career.

Performed and devised by the NYT junior company, with a cast of seventeen actors playing characters their own age, this is a beautiful, moving show full of laughter and touching moments. It elevates children’s theatre into the realm of an artform that speaks across the ages.