The Road That Wasn't There

This is a story about a girl who followed a map off the edge of the world…

In New Zealand there are some 56,000 kilometres of paper roads – streets and towns that exist only on surveyors’ maps. Or do they? A young woman strays from the beaten track and finds herself in a paper world. It seems a land of possibility but she soon discovers that things that happen in the fictional world can have frighteningly real consequences.

From award-winning company Trick of the Light Theatre (The Engine Room) comes an original fairytale drawn from the twitchy edges of children’s literature - a dark world reminiscent of Coraline, Pan’s Labyrinth, and the works of the late (great) Margaret Mahy. Combining puppetry, shadow play, and live music, The Road That Wasn’t There is a curious tale for intrepid children and adventurous adults…

Written by Ralph McCubbin Howell
Directed and designed by Hannah Smith

Starring: Ralph McCubbin Howell, Oliver de Rohan and Elle Wootton with live music from Tane Upjohn Beatson