We are thrilled to announce a new week-long immersive Puppetry Masterclass, titled From Concept to Creature… Development Processes for Visual Stories. Our guest artist for 2025 is David Morton, Creative Director of Dead Puppet Society.

ABOUT

In this immersive 5-day masterclass, participants will explore puppet manipulation, fabrication, and visual storytelling. Through hands-on workshops, they’ll prototype ideas, create laser-cut puppets, and develop short performances in a collaborative, skill-sharing environment.

MASTERCLASS PROGRAM

The five-day course will loosely be focussed around the following areas of practice:

• Manipulating, prototyping and devising with puppet characters.
• Fabrication methodologies and laser cut puppet construction.
• The poetics of performing objects.
• Environment and creature design for visual performance.
• Performance making.

With all content delivered in an open, workshop based setting, the week will provoke ongoing dialogue about creative practice, taking the chance to make together as an avenue for integrated skills sharing.

All participants will be given the opportunity to share and hone performance and devising skills, dive into a deep exploration of the types of stories suited to visual mediums, and create their own laser cut puppet creature.

Previous experience in puppet-based performance making is welcome but not at all necessary.

SPECIAL GUEST ARTIST – DAVID MORTON

David is a writer, director and designer, and the Creative Director of Dead Puppet Society. Over the last fifteen years he has led Dead Puppet Society in the creation of large-scale design-led theatre works developed with international teams.

Some highlights from work produced include, Peter and the Starcatcher, Holding Achilles, The Wider Earth, and Laser Beak Man. David has been nominated for five Helpmann Awards and an Olivier Award. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from Queensland University of Technology.

DETAILS

Date: 18 – 22 August 2025
Times: 9:00am – 5.00pm, Mon – Fri
Venue: Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, 1 Short St, Fremantle WA
Course Cost: $550.00

Spots for this masterclass are limited, so make sure to secure your place today!

For questions or more information please contact:
Michael Barlow – Associate Director | asd@sppt.com.au | 08 9335 5044