P

Issue Nø 11
December, 2010
O
P
e
N
Oz Puppetry Email Newsletter
This issue is dedicated to Norman Hetherington who died 06.12.2010
Eulogy presented at Norman Hetheringtonʼs funeral on 13.12.10 by Richard Bradshaw
UNIMA Australia remembers Norman Hetherington
Norman Hetheringtonʼs Awards and Publications
Norman Hetherington Remembered by Peter Soloman
Tributes to Norman Hetherington
Whatʼs On in January 2011
Terrapinʼs 30th anniverary year
Puppet Palace 2011
Story Time Channel 31
ArtPlay 2011
Kassius Kamel is back!
Puppet Poem by Kay Yasugi
About O.P.E.N.

Norman Hetherington OAM, Australiaʼs most well-known puppeteer and creator of Mr. Squiggle
(which played on ABC TV for 42 years), died on December 6, after a long illness. He was aged 89.
This issue of O.P.E.N. is dedicated to Norman. Many have paid tribute to him and we celebrate his
life and achievements in the following pages.
Norman Hetherington 1921 - 2010
The following is a eulogy written and presented
by Richard Bradshaw at Norman Hetheringtonʼs
funeral on Monday, 13th December.
I was still at school when I first met Norman. That was in
1952 when I went to see a Saturday afternoon show at a
small puppet theatre for children in an old army hut in
Burnie Park, Clovelly. At the end of the program some
adults presented a marionette version of an Aboriginal
legend and one of those adults was Norman Hetherington.
They were not his puppets, but he was there for some
first-hand experience before he embarked on a career of
puppetry.
Later that year Norman turned up at a meeting of the
Puppetry Guild with two marionettes he had made. They
were based on traditional variety figures: a devilish
contortionist and a skeleton which could fall apart and
reassemble. They were stunning figures, better looking
than most we had seen in books of overseas puppetry.
Then in 1953 he mounted his first marionette production,
“The Reluctant Dragon”, a play by Harcourt Williams. I
remember it very fondly. Itʼs about a dragon who would
prefer to write poetry than wage war. He is finally worked
up to battle when he is accused of writing “punk poetry”.
Smoke comes out of his nostrils ... or from one nostril in
this case ... and this was the forerunner of lots more
smoke down the years. Norman designed brilliant
puppets, had a wonderful sense of fantasy, and used lots
of talcum powder ... to make smoke. In later years on TV
the human presenters faced the smoke from Bill
Steamshovel and Rocket. Sometimes it came out in
lumps.
Norman felt that puppets should do what humans couldnʼt.
In his 1954 production of “The Magic Tinderbox” the king
was transformed before our eyes. His arms became owls,
his legs became frogs, and his body became a big purple
pig. You canʼt learn to do that at NIDA.
One night, at a Puppetry Guild meeting in Erskineville,
Norman did something quite special for us. He used his
hands and bits of card to make an amusing series of
shadow sketches. I particularly remember the swan,
whose neck and head were his own arm and hand, and
whose body was Normanʼs head. Norman had a
wonderful head of thick, dark, curly hair and I remember
the audienceʼs delight when the swanʼs head turned to
preen the “feathers” on its back. He had to stop doing this
great little show when a chisel he was using to carve a
puppet slipped and cut into his forearm, seriously
damaging a tendon to his thumb and requiring surgical
repair Fortunately for everyone the accident did not end
his puppetry career.
As a boy Norman had attended Fort Street High where the
Principal was horrified to learn that Norman had decided
to leave school to study art. How could he possibly
choose the frivolous pastime of art above the academic
study of language, history and football? What future was
there in that?
Norman was sometimes called “Norm”, but his talents
were far from those of the norm ... (that bad pun is for Bill
Steamshovelʼs benefit). While he was a teenager studying
art at East Sydney Tech The Bulletin published cartoons
he sent them. [I hope his old school principal read The
Bulletin!]
During World War II Norman joined an Army Entertainment
Unit. The actor Michael Pate was in the same unit and
wrote a book about it. On the dust-jacket is a cartoon of
the members of the unit, “The Islanders”, drawn by “Heth”,
which is how Norman used to sign himself. As the
obituary in the Herald mentioned, it looked a bit like a
Chinese character. There are two photos of Heth in the
book. In one he has a little moustache and a bowler hat
and is holding up the words of “Daisy, Daisy” for a
community singing session. In the other, with smock,
beret and palette, he is doing one of his lightning sketches
as part of a Concert Party for troops in northern
Queensland.
.
Photo:
Australian
War
Memorial
68989
These troop concerts took him north of Australia to New
Guinea, Dutch New Guinea and New Britain and the
lightning sketches were often of personalities in the units
they played to. These were accompanied by funny ad libs
from Norman and sometimes he would transform one
portrait into another by adding a few lines and turning it
upside down. Mr Squiggle was already on his way from
the Moon!

During the War Norman would contribute the occasional
cartoon to the Bulletin and other magazines from up north
and after the War he became a full-time cartoonist there,
alongside Norman Lindsay and Ted Scorfield. He ended
up doing a full-page cartoon spread in addition to single
cartoons. In 1949 he made his first puppet following
instructions in a 1935 Popular Mechanics Monthly from the
U.S. that his father had given him. He saw that puppetry
offered a way of combining his performance skills with his
cartooning ability.
TV came to Australia in 1956 and Normanʼs puppets began
appearing on the very first night of ABC TV. He also
worked on Channel 7 in a syndicated puppet show that
included a “Cartoonerator” where he was able to use the
talents he had developed as a lightning sketch artist.
Meanwhile he continued cartooning for the Bulletin until
1960 and presented holiday puppet-shows in department
stores. These were joyful little shows and very often
culminated with a treasure surpassing gold... a large plum
pudding. Often close inspection of a puppet would reveal
something usually found in a kitchen drawer ingeniously
integrated into the design.
Mr Squiggle just happened. To fill a gap in programming.
It was not planned that he would be around for 40 years
but Squiggle clearly had other ideas! In Australia we often
celebrate the larrikin, but here was a TV puppet hero who
was gentle, extremely polite (“Please excuse my back Miss
Pat”) and occasionally needed his hand held. That all
began in 1959.
A year earlier Norman had married Margaret and, thanks to
her, Mr Squiggle would never be lost for words. We should
remember that they worked as a team.
In addition to Mr Squiggle, grumpy Blackboard [“Hurry
up!”], the impish doormat, Bill Steamshovel and Gus the
Snail ... two non-puppets joined the household: Stephen,
now a Professor of Philosophy at UNSW, and Rebecca,
who eventually became Mr Squiggleʼs presenter, the last of
a line of talented presenters. And letʼs not forget the
valued contribution of Mr Squiggleʼs director at the ABC,
Beverley Gledhill.
In the early days Norman was concerned that someone
else might “borrow” the technique of Squiggle. Personally I
think it would be very hard to find someone else who could
draw such amusing and fantastic sketches leaning forward
over a near-vertical pad with a pencil fixed at right-angles
to a metre-long handle and a heavy weight at the end. And
who else would give an umbrella to a fish? Often, as in the
army shows (but for a reason not obvious to the young
viewers) Mr Squiggle would ask for the picture to be
turned upside-down.... and would then turn it into
something fantastically different. No wonder thousands of
children posted off their squiggles to see what might
become of them.
Five years ago the Mosman Art Gallery organised a
splendid retrospective exhibition. It was called: “Mr
Squiggle ; Whoʼs Pulling the Strings?” One exhibit was an
envelope that a child had addressed as follows: “Mr
Squiggle, The Moon.” It got there!
Norman Hetherington, Bill Steamshovel, Mr. Squiggle and Gus
Photo provided by Rebecca Hetherington

Thirty five years ago a 12-year-old boy in Newcastle wrote
to Norman, not really expecting a reply from such a
prominent person. (The boy was already a member of the
Puppetry Guild of which Norman was President.) He
asked how to go about stringing a marionette for a trapeze
act. A reply came with a detailed drawing, alternative
methods of stringing, references for further research, hints
from personal experience and it was signed “All the best,
NH”. The puppet’s construction began that afternoon.
That boy, Murray Raine, became a very successful
puppeteer and as an adult struck up a close friendship with
Norman who became a mentor. A week before Norman
died Murray was at his bedside getting advice on his latest
puppet.
Murray’s raunchy cabaret marionettes, decked out in
feathers and sequins, were hardly what Mr Squiggle would
have been used to on the Moon, but with a few quick swirls
of a pencil Norman captured the mood with designs for
Murray’s sexy divas . As he often said: “You never know
what you can do until you try!”
Murray regrets that he can’t be here today. But this very
night puppets designed by Norman Hetherington will be
performing on a cruise ship which left Sydney on Friday.
The East Sydney Tech where he first trained has become
the National Art School and just last month a plate he had
recently designed, which featured Mr Squiggle, was in the
annual plate auction to raise funds. Some years ago
Norman went to COFA, the UNSW College of Fine Arts, to
further his already considerable skills in etching. There, in
2005, he received the Dean’s Award for Excellence.
Norman was valued and admired by puppeteers, not only
here in Australia but internationally. He inspired us all and
was a good friend. In 2008 he was made a Member of
Honour at the 20 th congress of UNIMA, the international
association of puppeteers which, by happy chance, was
held in Perth, only the third occasion outside Europe.
There was an exhibition of Mr Squiggle and Friends at
Perthʼs Public Library. Tributes have already come from
puppeteers in England, and North America and his death
has been top news on UNIMAʼs international website.
Ronnie Burkett , the Canadian puppeteer who performed at
the Opera House last year, has written: “Looking at photos
today, I'm reminded how fresh and vibrant his puppet
design sense was.”
He was not only ranked at the top by fellow puppeteers. In
2008 he was made a life member of the Australian
Cartoonistsʼ association and last year was given a standing
ovation when presented with their Jim Russell Award at
Darling Harbour.
20 years ago he received an OAM, the Medal of the Order
of Australia, for his services to puppetry and to Australian
television.
Did I just hear “Hurry Up”?
Norman had a rich and rewarding life, full of fun. Fun was
paramount. He brought smiles to thousands ... millions ...
of faces. Even with Smileyʼs Good Teeth Puppet Theatre
for the Dental Health Foundation, which he created with
Margaret in 1968 and which toured schools for 17 years.
These last weeks have not been fun, not for Norman, nor
for his devoted family, and especially not for Margaret and
Rebecca.
But now let us be grateful and happy that he brought so
much joy to so many people as we remember Norman
Hetherington, a great Australian.
Richard Bradshaw OAM
Awards
1984 “Penguin Award” for Childrenʼs
Television Personalities. Television Society of
Australia. Received award again in 1989
1990: Awarded OAM for services to puppetry
and Australian television.
2002: Presented with UNIMA Australiaʼs
Lifetime Achievement Award at UNIMA
National Puppetry Summit
Above: (L - R) Ronnie Burkett, Murray Raine
and Norman Hetherington backstage 14th
October ʼ09 at ʻBilly Twinkleʼ, Sydney Opera
House. Photo by Neil Ray reproduced from
ʻAustralian Puppeteerʼ ʼ09
Left: Sculpture of Norman Hetherington on
UNIMA Lifetime Achievement Award
sculpted by Julia Davis
2005: Presented with Deanʼs Award for
Excellence in Art, Design and Education
(College of Fine Arts, UNSW, for contribution
to the medial
2008: Member of Honour at 20th
International UNIMA Congress and Pestival,
Perth.
2008: Australian Cartoonistʼs Associationʼs
Jim Russell Award.

Publications
1974 Puppets of Australia written by Norman and wife
Margaret for the Australia Council
Below:
Book produced by
Mosman Art Gallery for
Norman Hetherington
retrospective exhibition
2005
1980 Mr Squiggle and the Great Moon Robbery written and
illustrated by Norman and wife Margaret. Published by ABC
Books.
1988 Hand Shadows written and illustrated by Norman
and wife Margaret. Published by Angus & Robertson.
1992 Mr. Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile
written and illustrated by Norman and wife Margaret.
Published by ABC books
Right: Cover of
Hand Shadows
1988
The following is a tribute from Jennifer Pfeiffer, President of UNIMA Australia. Norman Hetherington was the
founding president of UNIMA Australia in 1970
We celebrate the life of Mr Norman Hetherington, who passed away after a long illness on Monday 6 December.
Norman was most remembered for his pioneering work in Australian television with his show based on his
puppet character Mr Squiggle. Mr Squiggle first appeared in the late 50s, and which several generations of
Australian children grew up with, being broadcast for over 42 years!. Squiggle has a pencil for a nose and
changed scribbles sent in by viewers into recognisable and mostly humorous drawings. Sometimes Squiggle
drew sideways or upside-down.
Norman was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1990 for service to children's television programs
and puppetry.
He was a man whose involvement with puppetry was always motivated by a sense of fun and good humour.
http://www.youtube.com/v/2u74YGPQCHA?fs
Norman was also very active in the formation of the UNIMA Australia Centre in its early years, and worked to
encourage young performers, inspired them and set a benchmark for excellence. He was president of the
Puppetry Guild of NSW, which later changed to the Puppetry Guild of Australia, of which he was the NSW branch
president, and was later president of UNIMA Australia (1970-1984). He was a co-convenor of the original UNIMA
Australia Scholarship to assist emerging puppeteers, and who was honoured at the UNIMA World Congress in
Perth 2008, being bestowed Member of Honour.
Jennifer
Jennifer Pfeiffer
International Executive UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionette)
President UNIMA Asia-Pacific Commission
President UNIMA Australia
The UNIMA Australia logo
was designed by Norman Hetherington

Sunday 12 th December 2010
Norman Hetherington Remembered
A personal recollection by Peter Soloman
It was in 1974 when having joined Peter Scriven’s Marionette Theatre Company as an ASM that I decided to
become a member of the APG (Australian Puppetry Guild). One night at a Guild meeting over an inevitable cup of
tea I met one of the senior members - Norman Hetherington. Norman was well known to me, for throughout the
1960s I was magnetised to our family television set, watching his wonderful creation Mr Squiggle (the moon man/
boy who ventured to earth each program, just to “make complete” children’s squiggles). However at the time, being
a fairly naïve twenty-four year old, I did not know how important Norman was to Australian puppetry - or indeed
the arts in general.
Touring for a year with Peter Scriven’s last production of the Tintookies, Tintookies 2000, was a fascinating
introduction to the world of professional puppetry and commercial theatre. And friendship still remains from this
time, namely with ex-puppeteer Virginia Mort. In 1977 I met my life partner Mark Wager, who, whilst on summer
recess from the design course at NIDA, earnt some well needed money doing craftwork in pre-production of Phillip
Edmeston’s Scrivenesque show, The Grand Adventure.
Thirty-four years have past since Mark and I made Melbourne home, and though I cannot remember how we came
to socialise with the Hetheringtons, I will always be grateful for our times together. Throughout the years when
travelling to Sydney, Mark and I have always looked forward to catching-up with these delightful people.
For those who never had the pleasure of meeting Norman I can perhaps provide a sketch of the man. Photographs in
the Hetherington archives reveal a young man who shared similar dark romantic looks to British artist and author
Mervyn Peake. The Norman I met in 1974 was about fifty-three and his wavy hair was turning grey. What struck me
at the time was how “puppet-like” his lively facial features were.
For unlike his beautiful puppets that were rarely designed to be “fully articulated”, everything worked practically on
Norman’s head: his eyelids, eyebrows, cheeks, mouth and for all I know ears!
Norman’s skills and achievements were examined in a video essay made some years ago for ABC television’s
Australian Story. This program, known well for its high production standards, is nonetheless limited to what it can
cover in a twenty-five minute format. Hence the vital place that Margaret, Norman’s work and life partner had in his
life, were barely touched on. A few years after the airing of Australian Story a Sydney gallery celebrated the work of
Norman in a retrospective exhibition. However, when all is said and done the scope of Norman’s development as an
artist and the importance his wife and daughter had on his longevity as an entertainer in Australian television, is yet
untold.
At this point I cannot continue without expanding on the importance of Margaret Hetherington. Peggy [as her
friends call her] has been the significant other half to Norman’s celebrated career. For thirty-plus years Peggy wrote
the scripts for Norman to perform to, and there-fore should be rightly thought of as an Australian television writer
with one of the longest careers, as well as the principal collaborator with Norman. For their unique contribution to
Australian entertainment, Norman and Peggy Hetherington should join the select ranks of a diverse group of
creative couples who have given their lives to the arts; including Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge,
Googie Withers and John McCallum, Tommy Dysart and Joan Brockenshire, Ray Lawler and Jacque-line Kelleher,
and John Bell and Anna Volska.
Norman Hetherington’s talent as a fine artist and etcher has been extensively documented, as has the black and white
cartooning that he began for the Bulletin magazine pre WW2. But perhaps it is as a marionette puppet designer/
maker/performer that Norman will best be remembered? Mr Squiggle and Friends was a program made by the
Australian Broadcasting Commision (as it was then known) for their Children’s Television Entertainment
department. The show was designed for primary to upper primary aged children and ran for a staggering forty years.
This achievement alone would put Norman Hetherington in a television entertain-ment category of his own, for I
cannot think of a puppet maestro in Great Britainor the United States who would have had such longevity with one
con-current program (even I suspect the redoubtable Bill Baird?).

To speak of Norman’s cartoonist style, my guess is that he was influenced by European animated films of the late
1940s to 1950s (UPA Studios esp.), along with French and American children’s picture books of the 1950s to early
1960s.
With regards to the materials and methods by which Norman made his puppets; from memory Mr Squiggle is
about 850mm high and strung for short strings. His clothes are machine and hand sewn, with hands/gloves and
shoes stuffed with wadding. His body is a shell so as to accommodate an extendable neck, and I believe his head is
wooden. His hair is made from dyed sheep wool. Mr Squiggle’s nose – I think I can reveal this now – is a black oil
crayon. As to other puppets seen on Mr Squiggle and Friends or in Norman Hetherington’s (live) Puppets shows,
unlike the current trend for complex figures that boast wig hair lacing, or rely on triggers and mechanisms;
Norman used fabric, shaped styrene covered with paper towel mache, acrylic paint and coloured plastic tubing.
Throughout the 1960s to 1980s television producers and puppeteers from around the world sought to understand
the “trick” that enabled Mr Squiggle to draw with his nose. But why: the trick was not a technical feat but a
philosophical one. The magic of Mr Squiggle was that Norman Hetherington imbued his creation with the qualities
of a blessed child: kindness, vulnerability and resourcefulness.
Moreover, for thirty years the Hetherington’s were indefatigable. Aside from keep-ing up with the demands of
television rehearsals and recording, Norman produced and performed one-man Christmas shows at Grace Brothers
retail store (then at Broadway, Sydney), and was artist in residence at Frensham Ladies College in
New South Wales. If this was not enough the Hetheringtons gave any spare time to morally support “Puppet
Tragics” at home and abroad, just as Richard and Margaret Bradshaw, Richard Hart and Julia Davis and others
have done.
But what of Norman: what sort of person was he? Thinking back on the discussions that I had with him, not a
word dealt with politics of the day, the economic state of things, religious or gender-based issues. Rather, if you
wished to talk philosophy, English literature, history and the ancient world - Peggy was the one. This is not
to say that Norman was unthinking or unaware of life’s deeper issues. Far from it, he just absorbed these concerns
and filtered them through a dreamy, child-like imagination. Socially, Norman may have fashioned the persona of a
wise, doddery, avuncular puppet master to deal with his public notoriety. But I believe underneath he was just as
over-whelmed by the callous and relentless bustle of daily life, as Squiggle.
If we the baby boomer generation were fortunate to have been Mr Squiggle and Friends’ audience, Norman
Hetherington was fortunate to have worked at ABC television when it was staffed with committed people who
were rewarded for innovation, open-mindedness, experimentation and risk taking. To some people
the golden years of ABC television and Radio were the 1960s-1970s. In my view, all this changed from about
1980, when the “bean counters” moved in and dumbed down much of arts programming to the lowest common
denominator. In the future the ABC may continue to assign money and effort to its news and current affairs
programs. But sadly, I think the days of innovative and memorable children’s entertainment and drama have gone.
Australian artist Norman Hetherington passed away on 6 th December 2010: he was eighty-nine. For all the years I
knew Norman he puzzled at artists who aspired to intellectual significance, at the expense of straightforwardness
and simplicity. After all, as he always said, ‘I just want to have fun’. And he did.
Happy moonbeams Norm’.
Peter Solomon
Asmodeus Films

He was such a lovely gentle man, and so humble. i remember meeting him up at Blackheath, and at
the Perth puppetry festival, will cherish the photo I took of Norman and his beautiful wife. What an
Amazing man and couple. He will be missed. Sandy Blake VIC
Sad news and a loss from the cultural landscape, but what a legacy!! Mr Squiggle was part of the
cultural fabric of childhood (my childhood) of the 1960s Australia. The originality of the Squiggle
concept hasn't been replicated (such as I am aware) and in hindsight his puppetry for the local
(Australian) TV is something Australians can all be proud of. And he was such a nice man too! Thank
you Mr Hetherington, May you rest in peace. May your puppetry live on in the hearts minds and archives such
that new generations have the opportunity for discovery and rediscovery. Sue Blakey VIC
Please extend to Margaret and family my sincere condolences. Norman's presence at the World Festival in Perth
rounded off his amazing life of dedication to gentle amusement for all ages. I will miss his hesitant smile, soft
voice and gentlemanly manner. The puppetry world will mourn his passing, but his art will live on in film for
future generations. Sincerely Mildred Clarke WA
I always found Norm a great inspiration and full of highly original ideas. He could make characters out of the
most unlikely objects and had original thoughts on his attitude to puppets. He will be very much missed in the
world of puppetry. Ann Davis. NSW
What an inspiration! ‘Squiggling’ was a habit I developed in my childhood after watching Mr. Squiggle on TV. I
often looked at the random arrangements of marks on a page to find the completed picture suggested there. I
still do....... Julia Davis VIC
Joan and I met Norman briefly a couple of times; at the UNIMA festival in Japan and then again in Melbourne. I
never saw Mr Squiggle but do have a postage stamp with a picture and of course Norman and Margaret's handshadow
book and I did have at one time his Puppets of Australia book. It is obvious that he and the programmes
were well loved by the amount of information now online and videos. Ray DaSilva UK
I first met Norman in 1980 at a NSW Puppetry Guild meeting. Having grown up with Mr. Squiggle, Blackboard
and Steamshovel, I was awestruck at being introduced to him, knowing his name only. Since then I have met him
often, but briefly; the more I met him, the more I liked and respected him as a person, apart from his puppetry
and design genius. Richard Hart VIC
He has been a father figure to me, a wonderful mentor and a close personal friend. Words cannot begin to
explain how I will miss him; he has shaped the career I have today. Murray Raine NSW
I'm so happy to read that the next O.P.E.N. will be a dedication to this remarkable man and his extraordinary
work. I can offer a picture of the man that we met so often at UNIMA gatherings. His gentleness and warmth
reached out to us without noise or fanfare; his contribution was massive, reliable and consistent. What a lovely
man and a wonderful puppeteer! My sympathy to all Norm's family, friends and colleagues. Anita Sinclair VIC
I worked with Norman as an actor on Squiggle for 2 years when I lived in Sydney. He was an interesting man
who to me really was a combination of all his characters he played. It was always interesting watching him
interact with Jane and see the dynamics there -particularly if he was annoyed with Jane on the day Bill the
steam shovel would blow extra smoke into Jane's face and we would always watch on with interest with how she
would cope it all,.,,,, fun times!!!!! Ian White VIC
A sad day for the puppetry community. Kay Yasugi
NSW
I got a mail about Norman Hetherington. I pray for the repose of his soul.
Sung Hee Cho South Korea

Whatʼs On - January
Dream Puppets at Sea Days.
Prom Coast Summer Festival
SUPERBIA
31st December at 11.00 a.m.
1st January at 11.00 a.m and 2.30 p.m.
2nd January at 11.00 a.m.
www.welshpool.vic.au
Also:
Dreamer in Space at Coburg Library January 12 Ph. 92401246
Dreamer in Space at Clarinda Library January 18 Ph. 95804377
Dreamer at Newport Library January 18 Ph. 99322050
Superbia at Springvale Library January 19 Ph. 92395398
___________________________________________________________________________________
Conceived and designed by Kim Carpenter and written by Richard
Tulloch Director: Gale Edwards Composer: Peter Kennard
Choreographer: Rowan Marchingo
Twelve year-old Waylon wants to be the first man on Mars and he’s not
afraid to shoot for the stars. But with his family constantly on the move he’s
fallingf urther behind in his schoolwork, and becoming a NASA astronaut like
his hero Andy Thomas seems about as likely as finding snow on Mars.
With help from his family and friends Waylon discovers that although dreams
are hard to reach there can be fun and excitement in trying to achieve them
And yes, there is snow on Mars
Snow on Mars is an inspiring adventure that blasts off with aerial performers, actors, music and songs,
making it perfect for audiences from 6-106.
York Theatre Seymour Centre January 2011
Friday 7 at 7pm
Saturday 8 at 11.30am
Sunday 9 at 2pm & 5pm
Tuesday 11 to Saturday 15 at 7pm
Wednesday 12 & Friday 14 at 2pm
Sunday 16 at 2pm & 5pm
$36/$30/Child $24
Family (2 adults/2 children): $99
Seymour Centre: 02 9351 7940
Sydney Festival: 1300 668 812
Ticketmaster: 136100

Pirates' Secret Treasure
written and directed by Phil Bell
Colourful and interactive, it leads the audience on a journey to find the secret treasure. Children are
encouraged to come dressed their your favourite pirate costume!
The dates for your diary are:
Tuesday 11 January to Friday 14 and Tuesday 18 to Friday 21 January.
Shows are at 9:30am and 11:00 am daily.
If you are from a day care and vacation care centre and would like to bring a group,
bookings are now being taken on 0438526411.
For more information, go to www.qtop.org.au
__________________________________________________________________________________
Coming up in 2011:
Terrapin Puppet Theatre 30th Anniversary Year
Tasmania’s Terrapin Puppet Theatre has announced its season for 2011 – its 30th anniversary year. In what will
be the biggest year in its history, Terrapin will stage six productions over six Australian states and territories, and
tour to the USA, Ireland and New Zealand for the first time.
On the anniversary itself, Friday 22 April, Terrapin’s much-loved production of Boats will be staged in New York at
the Long Island Children’s Museum, as part of an international tour that will stop in Wellington New Zealand,
Dublin Ireland, and Cleveland and Seattle, as well as various venues around New York state.
Boats will also undertake a two-month tour across Australia, encompassing shows in Sydney and regional NSW,
Brisbane and regional Queensland, regional Victoria, Darwin and outback Northern Territory, where it will be
accompanied by an Indigenous translator, before heading back to Tasmania for a stay in Launceston.
The stunning collaboration with the Children’s Art Theatre of China, When the Pictures Came, which opened in
Shanghai earlier this year, will have its premiere Australian season in March at the Australian Festival for Young
People (Come Out) in Adelaide, before returning to Terrapin’s home town of Hobart for Ten Days on the Island.
The critically acclaimed Helena and the Journey of the Hello will be seen in Melbourne’s Arts Centre, while the
inventive The Falling Room and the Flying Room will tour Victorian schools.
Two new productions will be staged in Tasmania. The Waltzing Tree will tour into primary schools in every corner
of the state over eight week weeks in May/June, while Love will premiere in Hobart’s grand Theatre Royal in
September before touring to Burnie.
Boats
Terrapin Puppet Theatre, and the
international tour of Boats, are supported
by the Australian Government through the
Australia Council, its arts funding and
advisory body; and Terrapin is further
supported through Arts Tasmania by the
Minister for the Arts. The Australian
Government is also proud to be associated
with the Australian national tour of Boats
through the national performing arts
touring program, Playing Australia, which
gives Australians across the country the
opportunity to see some of our best
performing arts. The Tasmanian school
tour of The Waltzing Tree is supported by
Aurora Energy.

From Tehran To Torrensville
Puppet Biz in the 2011 Adelaide Fringe
Puppet Palace in the Garden of Unearthly Delights is again the centre of the
Australian puppetry world when we present the Adelaide Fringe’s only
dedicated puppetry venue. With almost two hundred shows over the four
week season Puppet Palace is Australia’s largest annual puppetry performance
project. Started in 2007, the Puppet Palace is now a sought after fixture by
audiences in the Adelaide Fringe introducing the Adelaide public to a variety of puppet shows ranging from the
purely traditional to the really wild and wacky. In 2010 over 8,000 people attended shows in the Puppet Palace
venue.
With a new show taking to the stage every hour, the venue relies on presenting only portable puppet shows.
This year’s program sees the Puppet Palace venue continue to develop this rapid‐fire presentation of shows
with no less than four international companies taking part in our packed 2011 program.
Highlights of the 2011 program include a four week season by the For family audiences we are especially proud to
present Appletree Puppet Company from Iran with their delightful traditional production of Pahlevan Kachal
(The Bald Hero), an internationally acclaimed show telling a traditional Persian folk‐tale. Appletree is four
talented sisters from Tehran who are at the forefront of the Iranian puppetry revival. All their shows are
accompanied by exquisite live Persian music. Canadian shadow‐puppet genius Jeff Achem (aka Mr Bunk) will
present a brand new shadow puppetry show called ‘Swamp Juice which promises to be spectacular. We are
pleased to be hosting Stringbean Puppet Company a young company from Wellington, New Zealand with a
whimsical Italian‐inspired show featuring pasta‐making marionettes and a Neopolitan‐style Polichinello show.
Also from new Zealand, Puppet Palace hosts TABLO The Notional Theatre of New Zealand, a highly creative visual
theatre/puppetry company with intriguing roving characters & sketches…
Puppet Palace and Pooka Puppets break new ground this year with the launch of a provocative new production
called “Punch and Judy Take Afghanistan’ an adult puppet production that combines spoof, political satire and
lashings of slapstick violence. It features the talents of Australia’s Three Professors of Punch and Melbourne’s
internationally recognised puppet‐maker Chris Van Der Craats.
Puppet Palace in 2010 had a number of favourite South Australian shows that will again be returning to delight
both families and adults. We will again be presenting the hilarious ‘in your face’ puppet rock opera Tyrannasaurus
Sex, the pathetic story of Bob the Penis’s journey through the country of SizeMatters only to find fulfillment at the
other side. Our most popular family show The Amazing Drumming Monkeys ‘Save The Planet’ sees the two
intrepid mammals solve global warming through acts of kindness, Lindi Jane, Australia’s leading female
ventriloquist presents her superb Snaps Kakadu Club (Lindi Jane was an award winner in Dubai this year) and of
course we will be presenting both the family and late night versions of traditional Seaside Punch and Judy by
Professor’s Haig & Preston. We see the return of Pooka Puppet’s hit‐production of ‘Pigs In Wigs’ the funky
fairytale version of the classic tale from the Big Bad Wolf’s perspective. For late night owls Puppet Palace goes
into object animation of a different kind with acclaimed cards and cabaret artiste Tony Roberts presenting his
intriguing comedy‐card show Late Nite Aces Hi
In all, you’ll have to agree… Puppets are looking good for the 2011 Adelaide Fringe Festival! Come and enjoy!
The 2011 Puppet Palace Program is presented by Puppet Palace Project Company
in association with The Garden of Unearthly Delights and Strut’n Fret Productions.
For more information please contact:
Keith Preston & Lachlan Haig Mob: 0418 839 264 Email: Artbeatkp@aol.com Web: www.puppetpalace.com.au

Story Time is a new children’s TV show centred on library Story
Time sessions. The show is called Story Time and will feature a different
Storyteller each week. All guests on the show are regular library
performers and the show is hosted by a seven foot bear called Tall Ted.
This show has been made with the help of RMITV, the Dandenong Library, Casey Safety Village, the CFA and Myuna
Farm. It will air on Wednesdays at 9:30am starting December the 8th on Channel 31.
Producer, Bret Dalgleish says, “We have developed the show with the hope that it will increase story time patronage
for libraries throughout Australia. Each show will also feature a 15 second advertisement spruiking the local library
story time experience”.
Every episode features a craft activity that can be downloaded from the show’s web site
www.tallted.com .
Expression of Interest – PuppetLab at ArtPlay
ArtPlay is Australia’s only creative arts centre for children and families.
We provide high quality arts experiences through workshops and
performances in all art forms.
ArtPlay believes something special happens between artists and
children. In June 2011 ArtPlay will be presenting a week of puppetry
workshops and performances: PuppetLab.
We are looking for:
! a performance suitable for our gallery space (see tech specs)
! workshops in a variety forms of puppetry for children aged 3 to 5yrs, 5 to 8 yrs
and 8 to 12yrs and families.
Dates:
Confirmed: Tuesday 12 to Sunday 17 July
Tentative: Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 July
PuppetLab has been part of the ArtPlay program in 2007, 2008 & 2009 and has involved
over 40 artists including Ken Evans, Rebecca Russell, Men of Steel, Lynne Kent, Liz
Talbot, Justine Warner, Tim Denton, Annie Forbes, Vanessa Ellis and heaps more!
If you have an idea for a workshop, or a performance ready to perform then please send
us an email outlining:
! Contact details & Bio
! A short description of your workshop/performance
! Age suitability
! Cost of 3 workshops*/cost of 4 days of performance
! Capacity of workshop/performance
This should be between ! to 1 page of detail.
* please note our stand fee for 3 x 2hr workshops with one artist over different days would
be approx $650. This varies from artist to artist depending on difficulty in prep time, if the
workshops occur on the same day, artist experience and length of workshop. If your EOI
is successful, we will negotiate fees further.
Please send your EOI to Alex Desebrock by Wednesday 12 th January on
alex.desebrock@melbourne.vic.gov.au
If you have any questions you can contact her on (03) 9664 7904. Please note ArtPlay
will be closed from the 22 nd December to the 4 th January.

Where is Kassius?
He’s back! Waffling with the wallies ......... and whistling to Wikileaks?

About O.P.E.N (Oz Puppetry Email Newsletter)
O.P.E.N. is a free and voluntarily produced newsletter and is open to all. You can contact us on
dreampuppets@netspace.net.au
Please send reports of any known or suspected puppet activity by the 25th of each month. (Profiles of puppet characters or
drawings/cartoons also welcome). Please keep photo resolutions low. Preferably send written material in .doc form so that it
can be edited or rearranged on the page. Publication will be during the first week of each month.
If you have urgent news: deadlines or notice of performances previously not advertised, you can send it to
us for inclusion in Op-date at any time.
LINKS to more information about Australian puppetry:
www.puppetsinmelbourne.com.au
www.PUPPETRYNEWS.com
http://africanpuppet.blogspot.com
www.unima.org.au
http://twitter.com/OzPuppetry
www.dreampuppets.com
www.puppetpalace.com.au
Thank you to Richard Bradshaw, Peter Soloman and Jennifer Pfeiffer and all those to contributed to this special edition of
O.P.E.N. No. 11, dedicated to the memory of Norman Hetherington 1921-2010.
This email newsletter will not be produced in January, but please send contributions for the next issue, O.P.E.N. Nø 12 in
February, 2011
Season’s Greetings
from O.P.E.N.
Julia Davis and Richard Hart December 2010