Both Invercargill and Te Anau will get a taste of the spectacular The Road That Wasn't There theatre show this weekend.

The latest production from Trick of the Light Theatre tells the tale of a young woman who "follows a paper road on a map and finds herself in a paper world."

Described as a "dark fairytale set in Central Otago", the show tells the story through a range of live action performance and live music as well as shadow and rod puppetry.

Ralph McCubbin Howell, who wrote and stars in the show as well as being one of the co-founders of Trick of the Light Theatre, said the idea for the show came about when touring overseas with theatre co-founder and director Hannah Smith.

"We first made the show back in 2012 when we were living in the UK and wanted to make something to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I think we were both feeling a bit homesick, and we wanted to stand out from the rest of the crowd, so we made a story that's very much rooted in the folklore of Aotearoa. I grew up in rural North Canterbury and had always been fascinated by the paper roads that dotted the region. Roads that existed on paper, but had never been built in the real world." 

McCubbin Howell said the show was made on a "minuscule budget" and the decision to use puppetry was due to "puppets being cheaper than actors."

"Inconveniently I wrote this vast story that covers three different worlds and time periods and numerous characters, so the decision to work with puppetry was partly down to economics. That said, we're into obsessive details, and so the design is also influenced by the content. It's a story about paper roads, so it made sense to tell it with paper puppets and cardboard sets."

McCubbin Howell said "different ages respond to it (the show) in different ways. It's funny and moving, and there are some bits where it gets good and spooky." The show will vist both Invercargill and Te Anau this weekend. PHOTO: Anita Pittu

The production is currently on the third different version of the puppets he said and this season they have introduced a live silhouette element to their design which he admits "keeps them on their toes" when it comes to costume changes throughout the show.

McGubbin Howell said he was looking forward to performing in both Invercargill and Te Anau and it was always special to perform back home on the South Island.

"The last couple of seasons we've done have been overseas have been great but we love touring it back home. The story is universal, but there are details which resonate here with meanings they don't carry overseas, jokes about Dunedin, and mythologies about the pīwakawaka. It's a work we know really well, so we love taking it to new venues and figuring out the way to make it sing in that space and that audience. We're both South Islanders, and there's something particularly special for us in bringing it home to the south of the south."

The show will take place on Saturday 27 April at SIT Centrestage Theatre in Invercargill and Sunday 28 April at Fiordland Event Centre in Te Anau as part of the Southland Arts Festival.