Dates: 2018 Melbourne Festival; 2019 Sydney Festival, Perth Festival

Company: Barking Gecko

Role: Co-Director (with Ching Ching Ho)

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This production was made possible through Major Festival Initiative Funding
2019 AWGIE Award Winner: Theatre For Young Audiences

Vanessa Bates' Script published by Currency Press, with introduction by Matt Edgerton

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About

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The spirits you carry, they carry you too.

 

Travel from contemporary Australia to cosmopolitan Shanghai and to the misty byways of rural China in the enchanting family mystery A Ghost in My Suitcase.

Twelve-year-old Celeste arrives in China to scatter her mother’s ashes, but in no time flat she’s thrust into a world of magic and myth. Her grandmother has carried on the family tradition of ghost hunting and Celeste finds she too has a knack for the hair-raising pursuit.

A Ghost in My Suitcase is a visually spectacular adaptation of Gabrielle Wang’s award-winning novel by Barking Gecko Theatre, featuring a female-led ensemble of Asian-Australian actors in a heart-warming adventure that will appeal across cultures and through generations.

Adapted for Stage by Vanessa Bates, based on the novel by Gabrielle Wang.

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Responses

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★★★★½ A Ghost In My Suitcase is superb family theatre – a stylish, big-hearted and vibrant adaptation of a much-loved children's book, delivered with all the vision and polish you'd expect from a major international arts festival.

The Age

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★★★★ Based on the book (and illustrated novel) by Gabrielle Wang of the same name, this is a sophisticated and poetic rendition adapted by Vanessa Bates, ostensibly for children, but calibrated also for an adult sensibility.

Artshub

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★★★★½ Directors Ching Ching Ho and Matt Egerton have done a wonderful job of bringing this stunning tale to life... The themes of loss, grief, multicultural families and Chinese traditions are handled gently, genuinely and lovingly. At times it made my heart hurt, yet I left with a big smile on my face.

Theatre People

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This is not a simply superficial work, and within the realms of children’s performance, this is a rare commodity indeed… This is great theatre, perfect for audiences young and old and comes highly recommended. Let's hope that audiences around the country and so too abroad get to enjoy this dazzling work of magic and performance.

The Melbourne Critique

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Co-directors Ching Ching Ho and Barking Gecko's Artistic Director Matt Edgerton always find the heart of the story and its characters and make sure that the story of grief and letting go leads even when there are angry ghosts to fight and lives are in danger. It’s a little bit scary but so full of love and loving characters that the scary is fun.

Sometimes Melbourne

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