Pupperoos was very excited to be invited onto the children’s television programme Play School in their “Through the Windows” segment! This was part of their ‘Making Puppets‘ episodes, which were aired in July 2014 on ABC4KIDS (ABC2). A team from Play School came to film Kay and other puppeteers at the Maldon Puppet Carnival in Maldon, Victoria. The puppet festival went from 8th-10th March 2014 and showcased puppet shows and workshops for children and adults. The Puppets series aired again on ABC iview in November 2014 and has continued to be re-aired on ABC4KIDS. Check out Play School at http://www.abc.net.au/abcforkids/sites/playschool/videos/episodes/ (Check out the ‘Puppets 2’ and ‘Puppets 4’ episodes).
Play School Puppet Theme: http://www.abc.net.au/abcforkids/sites/playschool/about/weeklythemes/?theme=4044271
Kay also shared her reflections on the Maldon Puppet Carnival in an issue of the Oz Puppetry Email Newsletter (OPEN), published on April 2014: After two years since the successful Tarrengower Puppet Festival, the picturesque country town of Maldon, Victoria was once again buzzing with puppetry. Streets were filled with excited crowds, colourful puppet characters and lots of white vans (a tell-tale sign that puppeteers were in town!). Even ABC’s Children’s Television show Play School came to visit for a day to film some of the puppetry happenings! There were puppet shows to suit all ages and tastes ranging from fractured fairy tales, traditional Punch and Judy, a blacklight show set in space, a shadow show about death and a chance to witness some surreal and surprising puppet surgery. The Puppet Slam organised by Black Hole Theatre was a particular treat for adult audiences who in one evening were ‘ambushed’ (as this was the theme) with a smorgasbord of visual and musical delights including dancing zombies, existential Grim Reapers, political satire and a cheeky Italian Pulcinella who refused to pay his taxes.
Max Dohle with his bird cane puppet
A personal highlight was running a bamboo/cane puppetry workshop, where participants transformed humble sticks of bamboo and cane into canoes, cherubs, bees, eagles and sharks. After covering them in lights and glow sticks, we then took part in a night parade where the puppets made their ‘glowing’ debut alongside other wacky puppets of the night. One of my favourite aspects of the festival was spending time with other puppeteers – sharing stories, puppet building tips and our mutual love of this amazing art form. There are many people that helped to make this festival happen, and special credits go to Artistic Director Richard Hart for organising such a fantastically diverse puppetry programme, Production Manager Rebecca Anderson and the Maldon team (including Pam Lyons, Harry Koponen and Kelly Murphy) for working their magic behind the scenes, and the amazing tech, sound and lighting provided by Outlook Communications (Greg Ginger).
