A Concise Compendium of Wonder - The Tree of Light
Adelaide Festival 2026 - world premiere
Slingsby Theatre Company
Written by award-winning Australian author Ceridwen Dovey, The Tree of Light is a radical reimagining to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl. Set in the year 3099, when humans find themselves stranded on the Moon, this powerful and magical tale will transport audiences into the darkness of space. Offering hope for a return to our home planet and the chance to reconnect with lush forests. An invitation to once more live within nature, not separate from the natural world.
Following development in early 2024, incorporating two weeks of performances for schools audiences along with an Adelaide Festival 2024 preview season, The Tree of Light will premiere in 2026 as the third piece in the triptych A Concise Compendium of Wonder.
An assembly of award-winning Australian writers will re-imagine three classic stories:
- The Childhood of the World by Jennifer Mills (inspired by the Brothers Grimm’s Hansel and Gretel).
- The Giant’s Garden by Ursula Dubosarsky (inspired by Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant), and
- The Tree of Light by Ceridwen Dovey (inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl).
Through these stories, Slingsby will illuminate what humans have gained and what we have lost, as we have moved from living in the forest to a rural setting to an urban forest of buildings. And now, from this unnatural landscape, we look out to space and consider relocating to planets beyond. A Concise Compendium of Wonder considers the environment in both form and content.
Each production in the triptych is a stand-alone story. Audiences may attend just one production, see all three across a season or step into an epic experience of three shows back-to-back, in a set that continually reveals new surprises. The design world transforms across the productions, reflecting humankind’s evolving impact on the landscape.
Using Slingsby’s internationally renowned theatre techniques of shadow, light-play, original music, and miniatures, this work is epic in its intricacy rather than scale. This is an original performance experience that responds to the current climate crisis, while being a multi-faceted, precious jewel that inspires hope for the future.
About Slingsby Theatre Company
Founded in 2007 and based in Adelaide, South Australia, Slingsby presents emotionally challenging and engaging storytelling in rich live theatrical realms for family audiences and young people aged eight years and over.
Slingsby produces and tours original theatre productions that captivate, challenge and inspire hope through memorable theatre experiences that evoke a sense of renewed wonder in the world we live in, and the role we each can play in building a happy and harmonious global society.
“It is theatre like the work Slingsby produces which makes us all imagine a better and happier world.” - Australian Stage Online
“The world is a better place for having a company like Slingsby in it.”
- Aspire Magazine