‘When my daughter (aged nine) and I walked away after the performance… I wanted to walk back in and wrap my arms around it. Yes, we loved it’
Arts Rocket, Sydney
‘A zephyr of pure originality and lyricism flows through this work and one feels the hand of writer Finegan Kruckemeyer’
The Advertiser, Adelaide
In Jof’s life at sea, he’ll lose three boats, tie a million knots and tell one magical tale.
Jof is born in a crow’s nest, on the waves and from the youngest age, possesses the sailor’s craft of knot tying. When they are shipwrecked, Jof leaves his parents working in a circus and returns to the sea, learning from the greatest fisherman of all, Okinawa Yukio. But after a storm in a teacup, he finds himself stuck on an island with poor Nicholas.
With his new friend, Jof begins the journey home, using knots to solve problems, songs to lift spirits, and a message in a bottle to remind him of the beautiful harpist, Eliza Turk.
awards
2013 Shanghai International Children’s Festival: Most Excellent Play
2012 Helpmann Award (the Australian national theatre awards): Best Presentation for Children
Finalist, 2011 Sydney Theatre Awards
Cast size
Previous seasons: 2 – 30 performers (and 8 when staged as an opera)
Audience size
For ages seven and up, all the way to adult
LENGTH
55-70 minutes
Seasons
24 seasons in seven countries
(Australia, China, England, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, USA)
2019
University of Portsmouth, England
Badger High School, WI, USA
2018
Interlochen Center for the Arts, MI, USA
2015
Tasmanian International Arts Festival Spiegeltent
2014
Tasmanian statewide tour, Australia
2013
US national tour
Wooden Boat Festival, Australia
Shanghai International Children’s Festival, China
Nanjing and Hangzhou tour, China
2012
Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Germany (as ‘Sturmkind’ – an opera)
Tasmanian statewide tour
2011
Giant Magnet Festival, Seattle WA, USA
Cleveland International Children’s Festival, OH, USA
US national tour
Australian national tour
Spreacha Festival, Fingal, Ireland
Capital E National Arts Festival, Wellington, New Zealand
2010
Arts Centre Melbourne, Australia
2009
Come Out Children’s Festival, Adelaide, Australia
Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia
2008
Tasmanian statewide tour, Australia
Oldenburgisches Staatstheater production 2012
(German opera version – composer: Hannes Dufek)
First Produced
- Commissioned/produced by Terrapin Puppet Theatre (Australia), 2008
- First directed by Frank Newman
- German season licensed by Rowohlt, translated by Thomas Kruckemeyer
- Chinese seasons licensed by Reckless Moments, translated by Hu He