Terrapin Puppet Theatre

Highly Engaged Employees

Terrapin Puppet Theatre was founded on 22 April 1981 by the late Jennifer Davidson. Jennifer, a designer from the defunct Tasmanian Puppet Theatre, began with a concerted campaign to establish a Tasmanian schools touring circuit, and the company had a particularly strong design reputation. The company had a large full time staff including puppeteer... s, designers and makers. Some of the artists involved with the company during this time were Sandy McCutcheon, Tom Samek, Jindra Rosendorf and Noriko Nishimoto. Greg Methé, who is still working with the company today, designed his first show for Terrapin 1985. Jennifer retired in 1992 and Annette Downs was appointed Artistic Director. Annette continued Terrapin's tradition of school touring, but also created shows with higher production values for theatres; that resulted in Terrapin playing in Hobart's historic Theatre Royal for the first time. Terrapin also toured internationally for the first time, staging Desires in Budapest, and Little Red in Korea and Taiwan. Artists involved with the company during this time included Philip Mitchell (now Artistic Director of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre), Lian Tanner and Kirsty Grierson. One of the most successful productions created during this period was The BFG: Big Friendly Giant, which enjoyed success in Hobart then toured Australia over the subsequent three years. In 1999, Jessica Wilson took over as Artistic Director. In addition to making work for children, Jessica also created productions for adult audiences, resulting in Frankenstein and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, and was a pioneer in the incorporation of projection in live performance. Working with Jessica during this period were artists such as Ben Sibson, Phil Lethlean and Colin Sneesby. In 2004, Annie Forbes was appointed Artistic Director. Annie created The Storyteller's Shadow: A Celebration of Hans Christian Andersen, which toured Tasmanian schools then went on to be presented in Denmark, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Artists involved with the company ...Read More