As Australia’s flagship puppetry company, we are dedicated to supporting talented artists to improve their craft through innovation.
This month we had the wonderfully talented Clare Testoni in our theatre having a creative development for our new production – The Secret Garden. Over an intense two weeks of playing in a dark theatre, Clare and her creative team explored a mix of shadow puppetry and cinematic techniques to develop this classic story into an exciting new puppet show.
Clare is the lead artist on the production and is both the writer and the director. After training with us as part of our FirstHand artist development program some years back, Clare was selected for our Artist in Residence program in 2020. Clare had a vision for a contemporary adaptation of the classic tale of The Secret Garden, that would place it in an urban Australian setting. Any guesses as to where the secret garden is located?
Clare’s creative reimagining resonates with the same themes as the original classic by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The timeless themes of friendship and the importance of nature are more important than ever right now. We are so excited to see Clare’s vision come to life for its world debut in September!
Book tickets to see The Secret Garden HERE.
