Minnie Rubinski, now in her eighties and living in a care home, looks back on her fantastic life. But what is real and what is fantasy – and does it really matter? 

The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski is exhibition theatre. Audiences enter a giant brain, hear Minnie’s fragmented thoughts and follow pulsing synapses to where her memories are stored. Her recollections from childhood to the present day are recounted through filmed vignettes with characters played by a cast of beautifully carved marionettes, placed in perfectly detailed period sets, inviting audience members to piece together her remarkable life story. 

Created by a team of puppeteers, filmmakers, set designers and prop masters, the production is inspired by creative director Kim Bergsagel’s experience of her mother’s life. Adapted from fragments of phone calls and family anecdotes, the story is funny, sad and at times nonsensical. 

Kim explains:
My mother, born in New York State in 1934, had a colourful life which according to her stories became more varied and diverse the older she got. Her careers ranged from being a classical pianist to an investigative journalist and by the time the COVID pandemic began, she was ready to save the world with her medical knowledge and believed the world was waiting for her to do so. The production was made during 2020-22 in recognition of my incredible mother.” 

"A journalist, mother, gallery owner, wife, writer, child, and saviour of the world from giant reptiles – there’s a lot to take in during The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski, which translates the words and thoughts of one woman’s life, now living with dementia, and turn these glinting pieces of their personality into a scale-filmed legacy, utilising puppetry to craft an often surreal, though occasional mundane and domestic, world for audiences to walk-through…"
- ★★★★★ Corr Blimey

"...it’s perhaps the rich detail of that real-life origin that makes the Fantastic Life Of Minnie Rubinski such an outstanding piece of work; full of love for an astonishing woman, and profound recognition of all that this generation of elders have known and been, in their long lifetimes."
- ★★★★★ The Scotsman

Please note

6 audience members (maximum) enter the production at a time, staggered every 30 minutes. 

Please allow at least 45 - 60 minutes to experience the production. 

A booking fee of £2 will be added to all orders. 

Age - Recommended 14+ Dates - -

£10

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