Owls Do Cry

Considered the first great New Zealand novel by celebrated author Janet Frame, Owls Do Cry tells of the Withers siblings, Daphne, Chicks, Toby and Francie, and their lives in small town New Zealand following a family tragedy.

Bringing the characters, imagery and poetry alive through Red Leap Theatre’s trademark physical and visual style, Owls Do Cry reveals Frame’s insight into our society and communities.

This production has been devised through personal connection and identification with her language, as a contemporary response rather than retelling. While a strong reflection of the time at which it was written, Owls Do Cry remains innovative and relevant. The modernist masterpiece, written in Frame’s idiosyncratic and startlingly visual style has the power to unnerve and astonish nearly 60 years after it was first published.

"If I travel a hundred miles to find treasure, I will find treasure. If I travel a hundred miles to find nothing… I will find nothing." – Daphne, Owls Do Cry