We were invited to take Nella’s Wings (Nella’s Wings) to the coastal city of Quanzhou in China to perform at the 6th edition of this UNIMA Puppet Festival.

Nella performed to 1100 enthusiastic and appreciative children in 2 days.

It was great to see the power of puppetry crossing cultural and linguistic divides.

3 Weeks In Spring - A new musical by Ian Gerrard and Endymion Productions at the State Theatre, Sydney. Duffy the Donkey was our first lifesize, fully articulated quadruped and was greatly loved by audiences of this show about the Gallipoli experience.  Actor Lincoln Elliott (playing Pte. Simpson) immediately embraced the joy of performing with a scene-stealing puppet.

Puppeteers - BJ Weule and Steve Coupe

Photo - Rebeccalynne Photography

Gumbaynngirr Project No 2

Following a very successful week long workshop in 2018 with teenagers from the Gumbaynngirr mob from the Nambucca NSW area we were invited to return and work with a new bunch of kids. We all had the privilege of learning from the very articulate and generous Gumbaynngirr elders. This project was managed by 3rd Space Mob.

After being immersed in Culture and listening to stories given by the elders the kids chose the stories that they wanted to explore theatrically.

Shadow puppetry and hand puppets proved to be great storytelling media and a presentation was given at the local primary school at the end of the weeks work. It was so heartening to see kids who were so shy at the beginning of the workshop participate with gusto and commitment to the making and the performing.

Our thanks to the many elders including Aunties Sha, Edrica and Maureen; to Uncles Michael, Martin, Bud, Troy, R.J and to Ricky and Shannon; to Rowena McGregor for inviting us and organising the event and to Lucy Nias who added her design and making eye to the project.

Two Challenging Puppet Building Commissions