Echo and the Bloop

A theatre company formed out of family members are set to return to the stage later this month for a children’s show about finding your voice, self-discovery and the natural world.

The MacDonalds, a family of professional artists who hail from Jersey, were commissioned by the Jersey Arts Centre to create their latest production ‘Echo & The Bloop’ for the theatre’s Playdays Children’s Festival in July.

Working under the moniker Mezzanine Productions, the company have been working on the show for the last year.

‘Echo & The Bloop’ follows its eponymous hero, Echo, who is meant to become the commander of all sound, but there’s just one problem… she is extremely quiet and struggles to speak her mind.

To help her discover the power of her own voice, the other senses send her on the adventure of a lifetime: go to Earth and collect all the sounds of the world. Together with her friend, the Major/Minor Bird, Echo meets all kinds of strange and noisy creatures – and when she’s flung into the path of some not so friendly ones, she must learn to speak up for herself.

The show is inspired by the real-life mystery of ‘The Bloop’. This is the name given to a strange sound recorded by scientists back in 1997 at Point Nemo – a place in the South Pacific so remote that the closest humans are on the International Space Station. Was it a sea creature? An ice quake? A secret military base?

But Mezzanine Productions knows it was none of those things… if you want to find out the real cause of this enigmatic sound, you’ll have to come and hear Echo’s story for yourselves. Told through stagecraft, movement, kaleidoscopic visuals, animation, puppetry and music, Echo & The Bloop is set to be a joyous and uplifting story with something for the whole family.

Writer of ‘Echo & The Bloop’, Martha MacDonald said: “When the world feels as noisy as it does right now, it’s never been more important that our children and young people learn how to tune into their own wavelength. We can’t wait to bring Echo’s story to life and we hope it will inspire, delight and surprise our audiences.

“The process for making this show has been extraordinary. I can honestly say that if I weren’t related to my company members, I would still want to work with them all, because they are all so good at what they do. I see us as a theatre company who also just so happen to be a family. We’re all so grateful to Daniel and the Jersey Arts Centre team for bringing us together again as a company for this production.”

Picture credit: Wayne Stewart.