Work in Progress

Creative Development Part 1:

MRS WEAVER AND

THE HARE.

Dead Puppet Society Academy

Princess Theatre https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1134817004

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Photo: Dead Puppet Society Academy 2025. Images: Dean Hanson

Mrs Weaver wants to balance the good trouble stories and bad trouble stories that she reads about in the newspapers every day. However, she is clumsy and sometimes clueless about what to do regarding the wars, starvation, violence and climate chaos. So she decides to live in the bush, alongside the animals that visit (Mr Hare, Dog, Bee, Bird, and, oh, sometimes the Platypus), and we journey with her as she works out ways of still being in this world of conflict and delusion, but holding onto joy, laughter and hope. The puppet creatures will be designed and created by Dead Puppet Society.

STEPS SO FAR

• Dead Puppet Society Academy: The idea was born halfway through 2025, and became part of the Dead Puppet Society’s Academy, an incredible few months of adventure, learning about puppetry and design production.

• Queensland Theatre Co. (QTC) invited “Granny Weaver and the Hare” to entertain the 0-5-year-old PlayDate gathering on the morning of November 6th, 2025, 9.30am-12.30pm. We created four half-hour creative development showings. Feedback was wonderfully rich.

• The body of work will continue to develop through various residencies I will attend throughout 2026, several creative developments, culminating in a presentation to a broader audience in 2027.

• The joy of Mrs Weaver is that she can adapt to all age groups, from zero to 100. She will move between texts to suit the occasion and join the movement to activate hope and joy in our somewhat broken world.