When director Adam Mitchell took their five-year-old son Otis to the library, he returned home to theatre making partner Gita Bezard with more than Nick Bland’s Walk Of The Whales picture book on loan.
“He came back and said ‘This book, we should make this into a show’,” 40-year-old Bezard recounts.
“I read it to Otis, and I was like, ‘Absolutely, this is gorgeous’. I don’t think it’s one of Nick’s more well-known books compared to his Bear series (The Very Hungry Bear, The Very Cranky Bear, The Very Sleepy Bear) but it’s just so beautiful.”
A founding member of artist-led collective The Last Great Hunt, Bezard had previously written The Paper Escaper for the young audiences of Tasmania’s Terrapin Puppet Theatre, and approached Barking Gecko Arts artistic director Sam Longley with a successful pitch to adapt Walk Of The Whales for the stage.
Walk Of The Whales’ world premiere headlines the 2026 AWESOME International Arts Festival for Bright Young Things at Subiaco Arts Centre, followed by a tour to Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre and school season performances at Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana and Red Earth Arts Precinct, Karratha.
The Subiaco season is part of AWESOME Festival 2026’s expansion this year — bringing five days of theatre, music, visual arts, storytelling and hands-on creativity for children aged up to 12 years — across the three metropolitan hubs of Perth Cultural Centre, Yagan Square and Subiaco Arts Centre.
It then travels to regional hubs in Kununurra, Bunbury, Beverley and Albany.
Recommended for ages eight to 12 years, Walk Of The Whales goes beyond Bland’s picture book in Bezard’s adaptation.
“It’s quite complicated to adapt a book for that age group because often they don’t have extensive storylines,” she explains.
“It’s got beautiful pictures, it’s a lovely concept, but I had to invent a full story of a main character and an antagonist, and all these things to make it work for the stage.”
The book is about a day when all the whales exit the ocean to live in small town Seaside and features a series of images with all the chaos they cause, before finally a young girl asks them why they left the sea — the answer being pollution.
“The little girl at the end of the book, she’s come to the forefront as our protagonist (Frida), who kind of takes the whale under her arm and fights for them as they are starting to get pushed out by the town,” Bezard says.
“In the case of our play, it’s a mayor that represents the town as this ridiculous authority figure. Tarryn Gill has made this big, beautiful (wearable) whale puppet sort of thing and then there’s all these other small whale puppets that are done in different ways, so that we can play with scale.
“The blue whale is the narrator and he’s the main whale that we see. We tried to bring as much from the book as we could, in terms of the visuals, and get as many of the amazing pictures onto the stage as possible.”
Walk Of The Whales sits on the AWESOME Festival 2026 program alongside a return season of Barking Gecko Arts’ Stellarphant, an adaptation by Clare Testoni of James Foley’s picture book reminding audiences, six years and older, that heroes come in all shapes, sizes and species.
Stellarphant brings to life the story of Stella, a tenacious elephant with an impossible dream to become an astronaut.
“I love Stellarphant,” Bezard says, having previously seen the production.
“It’s very funny, and interestingly, both of our shows are about giant animals encountering problems with bureaucracy.
“Anything that gets children sitting in a theatre watching real people acting and being creative and seeing objects used in different ways, seeing imagination take shape on the stage, is important for their development.
“I hope they have a really fun and exciting time because that’s what we want children to have at the theatre, so that for the rest of their lives, they’re in love with this art form.”
Walk Of The Whales is at Subiaco Arts Centre, September 29 to October 3.
Stellarphant is at Heath Ledger Theatre, September 29 to October 3.
Tickets and full AWESOME Festival 2026 program at awesomearts.com.
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