The 2011 Sydney Children’s Festival program is the biggest to date, covering every aspect of creativity and learning including an absolutely massive selection of groundbreaking live theatre just for kids!

The six productions will span the entire two weeks of the festival and are jam packed with crazy and creative fun, explorations to embark on and brand new learning experiences.

This year the Sydney Children's Festival, with the support of its partner venues, is expanding to include Riverside Theatres in Parramatta, Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith, Newcastle Museum, the Seymour Centre, and the festival’s home, CarriageWorks. The amazing reach of this year’s festival means that no Sydney child will be left out!


BIG DRUMS FOR SMALL PEOPLE
October 7 - 8
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith
Presented by Sydney Children’s Festival and Q Theatre Company in collaboration with artists from Taikoz

TaikOz is Australia’s leading force in taiko drumming. In Big Drums for Small People three TaikOz artists collaborate with young musicians from Penrith to create a high-octane performance especially for children. Clapping, jumping and bouncing are compulsory – if you hate sitting still, this is the place for you!


I, BUNYIP
September 26 - 30, October 1, 3 - 8
Dulugar Ba, CarriageWorks
Presented by Erth and Sydney Children's Festival

Do you know what a Bunyip is? What about other secret spirits and creatures that live in Australia? Would you like to meet them?

Sydney Children’s Festival is very proud and excited to present the world premiere of I, Bunyip by CarriageWorks’ resident company, Erth Visual and Physical Inc. If you have enjoyed Erth’s dinosaurs, The Amazing Room, or Petting Zoo you’ll love this new show filled with new characters just waiting to meet you!

You’ll hear authentic stories that have been passed down in Indigenous communities for hundreds of years. Developed in consultation with five different Aboriginal communities around the country, I, Bunyip is a rare chance for you to meet very real characters from Australia’s oldest stories, brought alive by life-like puppets.

Get ready to meet new friends from oceans and rivers, bushland and deserts. You won’t believe the kinds of friends that Bunyips have!


POLYGLOT THEATRE'S CITY OF RIDDLES
October 4 - 8
The Tiny Top, CarriageWorks
Presented by Sydney Children’s Festival

City of Riddles is the groundbreaking new work from Polyglot Theatre, creators of the award-winning, international smash hits We Built This City, Check Out!, Headhunter and Muckheap.

City of Riddles is a 360-degree interactive theatre experience requiring hands-on participation from its audience, who are surrounded by puzzles they must solve and instructions they must follow. Unlike anything you’ve seen before, City of Riddles is above, below and all around you.

Upon entry, the audience explores a mysterious and atmospheric landscape of little buildings, peering inside each one like giants in a miniature world. From there, the landscape changes and changes again, until you are drawn into the story of a girl whose voice is stolen from her and buried deep under the City of Riddles. Deeply involving and heaps of fun, City of Riddles explores the preoccupation with our own space, the concepts of freedom and control and the joyous power of children.


THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING
September 27 - 30, October 1
York Theatre, Seymour Centre
Produced by Belvoir and Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image. Presented in association with Seymour Centre and Sydney Children's Festival

“When I grow up, I’m going to be happy”. This is nine-year-old Thomas Klopper’s greatest wish.

He isn’t quite an ordinary boy because he sees extraordinary things. Things most people seem to ignore: canals bursting with tropical fish, hailstorms in summer, and plagues of hopping frogs. Thomas draws them all in his book, The Book of Everything.

For his stern and serious-minded Papa, the only books that matter are about God. Comical mistakes that Thomas makes are met with punishment instead of laughter. But when Papa attacks Thomas’ beloved Mama he has definitely gone too far. Even the angels weep.

With the help of the witchy Mrs Van Amersfoort Thomas dares to become brave. Meanwhile a jovial Jesus drops in for chats and Thomas befriends a beautiful girl with a creaking leather leg in this magical story about a child who learns to act when beset by fear and faced with wrong.

Set in Amsterdam in 1951, Dutch children’s author Guus Kuijer’s acclaimed book will clutch at the heart and challenge your mind. Your school community and students of all ages will delight in this special return season of Belvoir & Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image’s sold out production.