“I see us as a theatre company who also just so happen to be a family”

While most families struggle to agree on a TV show, one Jersey clan has managed to create an entire theatre production together – and they’re taking it to the stage this week.

The MacDonalds, a family of professional artists from Jersey, were commissioned by the Jersey Arts Centre to create a production for the theatre’s Playdays Children’s Festival.

The company, know as Mezzanine Productions, has been working on the show ‘Echo & The Bloop’ for the last year.

The play follows eponymous hero Echo, who is meant to become the commander of all sound – but is extremely quiet and struggles to speak her mind.

Echo & The Bloop writer 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.”

The show was inspired by the real-life mystery of ‘The Bloop’ – 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.

Martha explained that the process for making the show had 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,” she added. 

“I see us as a theatre company who also just so happen to be a family.”

Islanders can expect to see movement, stagecraft, kaleidoscopic visuals, animation, puppetry and music used throughout the production.

There are three performances of Echo & The Bloop at the Jersey Arts Centre across Friday 25 and Saturday 26 July.

You can find more information and book tickets for this show and the rest of the Playdays Children’s Festival line-up here.