masterful weaving of stories… Crafty as all hell” -Art Murmurs, Wellington

---

A traveller arrives at a border with a stack of battered cases. From within them, whole worlds will emerge…

Suitcase Show is an eclectic box set of short stories. Dark, spiky, and comic, each one is told out of a suitcase. The staging is inventive, from lo-fi shadowplay to wireless projection, from dancing disembodied hands to narratives that crackle from a 70s stereo suitcase.  Tiny in scale, but expansive in story, it touches on climate change, love and death, travel, and secrets that we carry with us – an overthrown autocrat finds themselves on the run from their own shadow, an astronaut turns their telescope back on earth and back in time. The work was developed through a series of showings in unusual site-specific spaces, from a pub to a photography darkroom.  

Trick of the Light is renowned for crafting inventive shows and intricate narratives. Suitcase Show reunites multi-award-winning collaborators Hannah Smith, Ralph McCubbin Howell, Tane Upjohn-Beatson, and Filament 11 Eleven. 

“Weaves a bright, dark magic.”  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ —The Scotsman, UK

---

Director - Hannah Smith
Writer - Ralph McCubbin Howell 
Performers - Ralph McCubbin Howell, Hannah Smith, with Anya-Tate Manning and Richard Falkner
Sound Design and Composition - Tane Upjohn Beatson with additional composition by Robyn Bryant
Lyrics by - Ralph McCubbin Howell
Production and Technical Design collaborators - Brad Gledhill & Rachel Marlow (Filament Eleven 11)
Videography - Dean Hewison
Craft & Prop Design - Hannah Smith, Ralph McCubbin-Howell, Rebekah de Roo, Romina Menses and Emory Otto
Poster Design - William Duignan

---

Produced by Trick of the Light Theatre and presented as part of the PANNZ (Performing Arts Network New Zealand) touring programme.

---

Running time: 55 minutes

This is an adult work but is suitable for audiences aged 12 and up. Contains haze, flashing lights, references to death and depictions of violence.