Knockout Theatre is getting ready to present its latest production at Earthwise Garden in Tsawwassen.
The youth-driven theatre troupe will stage Jane and the Giant Peach from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1. The play is based on author Roald Dahl's story James and the Giant Peach.
"I'm 19 but I can still have fun with kids' books," says director and founder of the group Zoe Wessler.
Wessler says she always likes to pick shows with a fantastic element to them along with a big emphasis on make believe. This play also fits the location and has lots of roles the actors can have fun with.
"The actors are giving them their own twists and some of them are just hilarious," she says.
Knockout has previously staged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Alice in Wonderland.
This time around the show will have everything from talking bugs, robot sharks, to pirates and a giant peach, Wessler explains.
"My imagination has been in overdrive lately for it. There's a lot of things in the story that seem kind of impossible to bring in real life without special effects," she says.
She notes the group has a limited budget and the costumes will be kind of quirky.
"We're making it all ourselves." There will also be quite a bit of audience interaction, including dancing, with this latest production, she notes.Wessler is in an acting specialization program at the University of Victoria but says the summer is her time "to explore all the different elements of theatre and I always end up to taking on a directorial role to do that."
Jane and the Giant Peach runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 at Earthwise Garden, 6400-3rd Ave., Tsawwassen. There will be a show every night at 7 p.m. On the Saturday and Sunday there will also be a matinee at 1 p.m. The show will move around different areas of the garden.
Admission is $10.
