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DREAM PUPPETS is an Australian puppet theatre
company based in Melbourne
It has been performing its brilliantly visual and
surreal style of productions to audiences of all ages in Australia and around
the world for the past seven years.
The two
most
recent productions have made extensive use of "black light", a style of puppet
theatre in which the
puppeteer is dressed in black velvet against a black velvet backdrop. All the
puppets
and props are painted in fluorescent colours and are specially lit to make the
puppeteer invisible. The result is truly magical. The beautiful musical
accompaniments to the shows have been composed by, John Grant, a Melbourne
composer, who works in close consultation with the puppeteers to realize their
visions.
DREAM PUPPETS was founded by Richard Hart, who was originally
trained as an architect and visual artist. After discovering the enormous
freedom
that puppetry offered, he has been playing with it for over 23 years. His
experience
and contribution to Australian puppetry includes terms as treasurer and
secretary of
UNIMA Australia in the late 1990's and co-founding Australia's most successful
puppetry magazine, 'Australian Puppeteer'.
The puppet theatre company started in a tiny terrace house in North Fitzroy
as a one person enterprise, collaborating with various theatre, film and
television
productions including PIG’S BREAKFAST and L’LL HORRORS. One of Richard's
early works, THE ANGLER FISH BALLET, a production incorporating puppetry and
slide projections, won an award at the International Puppet Festival in Adelaide
in
1983. DREAM PUPPETS has since moved to a bigger venue in Oakleigh,
expanding its repertoire and personnel to include Julia Davis, a sculptor and
VCA
trained opera singer.
Founded by Richard Hart, a puppeteer with over 23 years experience, DREAM
PUPPETS started in a tiny terrace house in North Fitzroy as a one person
enterprise, collaborating with various theatre, film and television
productions including PIG’S BREAKFAST and L’LL HORRORS. When there was no
more room left to live in the house, DREAM PUPPETS moved to a bigger venue
in Oakleigh, expanding its repertoire and personnel to include Julia Davis,
a sculptor and Victoria College of the Arts trained opera singer.
The main purpose of DREAM PUPPETS is to celebrate and stimulate the
imagination, one of the most important and useful faculties human beings
possess.
Not surprisingly, to do so also results in entertainment, and the company has
been
excelling in these areas by exploring the boundless magic of puppetry.
One of the company’s productions, DREAMER, has been performed to great
acclaim at festivals in Korea, Japan and Israel, and in July, 2002 at Italy’s
largest
children's theatre festival, i Teatri del Mondo. In March, 2003 the show was
performed in Singapore and invitations have been extended to take the production
to China, Thailand and Indonesia
Other productions by the company include DREAMER IN SPACE, which has
had a very successful school touring season now in its third year; IN THE DEEP,
which explores worlds beneath the ocean, and a puppet version of MACBETH,
adapted and made by Julia Davis.
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