Spare Parts Puppet Theatre
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre is located at 1 Short Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, in Pioneer Park, opposite the Fremantle railway station. Productions include Tales from Outer Suburbia, The Bugalugs Bum Thief, The Deep, The Velveteen Rabbit and Farm
Website: www.sppt.asn.au
History
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre is a driving force in the contemporary puppet theatre landscape in Australia. It’s name reflects it’s ethos – to be inspired by many artists, artistic forms and ideas and fuse them with puppetry to create theatrically exciting performances for adults and children alike.
Spare Parts’ program offers families meaningful and exquisitely Australian theatre experiences that stimulate the imagination and warm the heart.
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre present four seasons a year at their home theatre in Fremantle, nurture the art form through their School of Puppetry and Emergent training program – FirstHand, perform in Festivals, corporate and community events and tour extensively through regional Western Australia and the world.
SPPT was founded in 1981 by Artistic Director Peter L Wilson, writer Cathryn Robinson and designer Beverley Campbell-Jackson, as part of an artist-in-residency program initiated by the WA Institute of Technology (now Curtin University of Technology).
From 1997 – 2001, SPPT was under the artistic direction of Noriko Nishimoto. We are now lead by an outstanding team in our award winning Artistic Director Philip Mitchell and Associate Director Michael Barlow.
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre share the magic of puppetry with over 50,000 people annually.
In April 2008 Spare Parts hosted the 20th UNIMA World Puppetry Festival and Congress – the Olympics of puppetry! After 30 years of operation, the Company has developed a national and international reputation having performed in China, USA, Korea, Singapore, Japan, Czech Republic and most recently in France.
Spare Parts believe today’s younger audiences deserve meaningful and exciting theatre experiences that respect their intelligence and emotional growth. While the focus is on young people, Spare Parts create work with the awareness that puppetry is not the exclusive zone of children but speaks directly to the child in us all.
The Theatre
The building was constructed as a commercial building in 1921. It is a two storey limestone building with a corrugated iron roof, constructed in the Federation Free Classical style of architecture. The building was used as the State Shipping Service Office. In 1975 it was vested in the City of Fremantle and in September 1978 it was officially opened as the Fremantle Art Gallery.[1] In 1988 it was refurbished to specifically accommodate the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.
The building is listed on the City of Fremantle's Municipal Heritage List.[1]
References
- ↑ "City of Fremantle Heritage List" (pdf). City of Fremantle. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
Further reading
- Webb, Laurie (February 1999). Collection of Six Articles on Puppetry and Puppet Companies in Australia. Lowdown 21 (1). pp. 3–5,8–9,12–18. ISSN 0158-099X.
- "Spare Parts Puppet Theatre : Programs and Related Material collected by the National Library of Australia". National Library of Australia. 1999. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
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Coordinates: 32°03′12″S 115°44′42″E / 32.0533°S 115.7451°E