Author: Brett Hansen

2018 Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards – Larrikin Puppets

Posted on by Brett Hansen

Larrikin Puppets is a nominee in the 2018 Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards!

 
We’re very happy to be a nominated business in the Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards this year. Puppets are quirky and puppet businesses are niche, so it’s nice to receive a bit of recognition. Winning an award would be amazing and very good for the growth of this plucky little puppetry business. Fingers crossed! We’ll see how we go.
The Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards aims to underpin economic diversification and sustainability through the recognition, reward and support of business growth, invention and innovation across the Region.
 

Larrikin Puppets in the USA – Kids Entertainment | Jim Henson

Posted on by Brett Hansen

Flashback – USA, 2016
Australian kids entertainers Larrikin Puppets (based on sleepy Bribie Island – North of Brisbane in Queensland) spent three months in the USA for professional development in 2016. Much of this time was spent meeting Jim Henson puppeteers, and participating in some formal training.
In New York City, we attended casual puppetry workshops at The Puppet Kitchen with Michael Schupbach. There we met several other puppeteers – both independent performers and Henson stars from Sesame Street and The Muppets, as well as cast members of Broadway’s Avenue Q.
Brett participated in the intensive Beyond The Sock workshop at the University of North Texas under Jim Henson puppeteers Marty Robinson and Noel MacNeal, both involved in Sesame Street and The Muppets. Marty is known for being the performer of Telly Monster and Mr. Snuffleupagus, and Noel is known for his lead role as Bear from Bear In The Big Blue House.
We also spent a bit of time in Los Angeles with Jim Henson Company puppeteers Grant Baciocco and Russ Walko.
Left: Troggg in front of The Jim Henson Company (Hollywood, California). Top Right: Troggg in front of Kaufman Astoria Studios (Queens, NYC), where they film Sesame Street. Bottom Right: Frazzamatazz and Brett performing (in Denton, Texas) under the watchful eyes of Henson puppeteers Noel MacNeal and Marty Robinson during the ‘Beyond the Sock’ puppetry workshop.

Larrikin Puppets in Banana Shire Council

Posted on by Brett Hansen

Larrikin Puppets are visiting the Banana Shire as part of the First 5 Forever program, a State Government initiative. They are performing in Biloela at the “Family Fun in the Park” event (14 Sep), and in Baralaba (11 Sep), Moura (12 Sep) and Taroom (13 Sep).
The First 5 Forever program aims at developing literacy in the under 5s, the program motto is “Talk Play Sing Read”.
 
Our first show in the Banana Shire was at Baralaba State School on Tuesday, 11 September 2018. Students from Prep to Grade 2 at the school, plus visiting kids from playgroup and kindy and their parents came along to see the puppet show and had a great time!
Looks like Troggg had a great time in Baralaba too! Here he is talking about it:

Our second show in the Banana Shire was at Kianga Memorial Hall in Moura, where we had 63 kids from local playgroups and kindys come along with their parents! Everybody had a fantastic time watching the puppet show and we had lots of positive feedback from parents during the meet-and-greet.

Our third show in the Banana Shire was at Taroom Library where we performed our Story Time With Larrikin Puppets show for all the families and kids under 5 in the community. So many happy little faces and lots of laughs from parents and kids alike.
Our story of the day was ‘Too Many Teddies’ by Australian author Glenn Martin.
The audiences absolutely loved Troggg’s little sister Marina at this show! They were all very delighted to meet her and Troggg after the show for high fives, chats and photos.
 
Here’s Troggg on a lonely stretch of road between Taroom and Banana to tell us his side of the story:

One of our adult volunteers during the ‘How the puppets work’ demonstration at Taroom Library invited us up the road to visit the Paddock to Pool Swim School for chats, hot chips and a few photos of the puppets. Here’s a little video they posted on their Facebook page of Troggg and Flossy behind the counter: https://www.facebook.com/767603440078163/videos/1959326007693127/

Our final day in the Banana Shire was the performance of two puppet shows at a special First 5 Forever family fun day at Melton Park in Biloela. We performed our story time puppet show first at 9:30, followed by a combination of our festival show and childcare show at 10:30. Lots of parents with their little ones, as well as playgroups and childcare classes came along to enjoy the puppet shows, petting zoo, face painting, arts and crafts and a jumping castle. We had lots of positive feedback from parents and teachers afterwards.
Such an epic and time consuming set up and pack down on a very hot day, but worth it for all the smiles and laughs during the puppet shows. That’s why we do this!

And so we said our goodbyes to the Banana Shire and headed off on the long drive to our next overnight stay, which was in Jandowae. Here’s Troggg reporting from our accommodation there just before we headed off to our next destination – Toowoomba – to run two puppetry performance workshops for Shoebox Theatre Company.

YouTube sadly cuts Troggg off at the end of this video – but he’s about to tell us about “The Bureau of Magical Things” – Episode Eleven. I (Brett Hansen) worked as a puppeteer on that episode of the show. Full video Troggg’s Jandowae report can be found at this Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/LarrikinPuppets/videos/327369644497049/
Thank you for having us, Banana Shire! We hope to visit again! 🙂