When love creates life: Inside Theatre New Brunswick’s remount of 'The Velveteen Rabbit'
- Brianna Lyttle
- Feb 9
- 2 min read
Tania Breen’s stage adaptation of the classic children’s novel The Velveteen Rabbit first hit the stage in 2013 with Theatre New Brunswick’s (TNB) touring Young Company.
Once the show closed, the rabbit doll used in the production took up residence on a shelf in the TNB building. Now, the rabbit has hopped down and is touring the province again in a new re-imagining directed by Alex Rioux.
Breen felt that the reimagining of the script made distinct new choices while staying true to the original.
The original adaptation was written during Breen’s time as Theatre School Director, when the TNB Young Company was looking for a touring script for young audiences to be performed by two actors.
She attended the preview performance with the stage manager from the original production, which made for an emotional experience seeing the original rabbit and rocking horse.
“They had a lovely stage design that didn't reveal everything until it opened up and let you into the world of the boy’s room,” she said. “When the stage opened up and we saw the little velveteen rabbit and the old skin horse from the original production, we both got very misty.”
Rioux said that the opportunity to direct came when TNB approached them with the script, looking to re-imagine Breen’s adaptation.
“It felt like a really exciting, full-circle moment to get to direct the work of one of my mentors while giving it my own unique point of view,” they said.
Though Breen’s script was their first time interacting with The Velveteen Rabbit, Rioux obtained the original novel from the library to guide them in forming the remount.
“The thing about it that particularly jumped out to me is this reoccurring image and idea of becoming real. I feel like, especially for the age group that it's targeted towards, when you're a child, you try to sort of simulate the real world through play … playing at what you believe adult life is, is such a big part of play as a kid.”
With the two actors also cast in A Canyon Contained, they learned both shows in three weeks.
“With the amount of running around, puppeteering and singing that happens in Velveteen, I was really impressed with the actors and their ability to retain all of that in such a short burst of time and I just know that on the road, it's gonna get better and better.”