The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane
Adapted by Dwayne Hartford
From the book by Kate DiCamillo
Directed by Anna Crace
When Abilene’s grandmother, Pellegrina, gifts her a china rabbit on her birthday, she quickly names him Edward Tulane and makes him part of the family. Although he is loved and cherished by Abilene, Edward is selfish and thinks only of himself and his looks. The only person who really sees Edward is Pellegrina who tells them a bedtime story of a princess who rejects both loving and being loved and is turned into a warthog. Although Edward doesn’t understand this story, it stays with him. The next day Abilene’s family set sail to England, taking Edward along for the journey. When two young boys, Amos and Martin see Edward they take him from Abilene and throw him to one another until Edward is accidentally thrown overboard into the ocean. He sinks down to the sea bed where he is stuck for 297 days until a storm picks him up and he lands in the net of a fisherman, Laurence. Laurence, discovering Edward, brings him home to his wife Nellie. They name him Susanna and he becomes not only part of the family, but a way for Nellie and Laurence to connect after the loss of their child. Edward spends a few happy months here as Susanna, being taught the star constellations and keeping Nellie company until their daughter Lolly arrives home one day. Embarrassed by her parents and their love of this rabbit, she takes him to the dump and throws him away. He stays, buried by trash for 118 days until a dog, Lucy sniffs him out and brings him to her owner, a homeless traveler named Bull. He immediately names Edward, Malone and they begin their life on the road. They travel together for seven years and Edward becomes a source of comfort not only to Bull but the other travelers they meet on their way. One evening they step onto a boxcar of a train and are discovered by a watchman.
Furious, the watchman throws Edward out of the train and he is, once again, lost. As he lays, looking up at the stars, he is picked up by an old lady who takes him back to her house and attaches him to a pole where he becomes a scarecrow called Clyde. As a scarecrow he attracts the attention of a little boy, Bryce who is working in the fields. Later that night, Bryce sneaks back in and saves Edward, taking him back to the shack where he lives with his sick sister, Sarah Ruth and becomes Jangles. To entertain a dying Sarah Ruth, Bryce attaches twine to Edward’s arms so that he can dance while Bryce plays the harmonica. They live this way for a few months until Sarah Ruth’s illness becomes too severe and she passes away. In his grief, Bryce takes Edward and the harmonica and heads to Memphis. He plays and makes Edward dance on the street corners until he ends up in a diner. After eating he realizes he cannot pay the angry owner, Neale, smashes Edward into the counter as punishment. Now in a limbo state where he is not whole but not gone, Edward sees all the people who have loved him and realizes how much his heart has been broken by losing these people who changed him. When Lucius the dollmaker mends him, he comes back to the real world and sits, waiting to be bought. He has no hope until he meets an Old Doll who reminds him that ‘if you have no intention of loving or being loved then the journey is pointless’. One day, an adult Abilene enters the doll shop looking for a gift for her daughter and is shocked to find Edward. They recognise each other and are reunited, he is home.
Location: Mainstage Theatre
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