In a groundbreaking collaboration between Queensland Theatre Company and the insanely talented Brisbane-born team who are the Dead Puppet Society, The Wider Earth will receive its highly anticipated world premiere season at the Bille Brown Studio from 14 July 2016.
On the legendary voyage, Darwin clashes with the hot-tempered, neurotic Captain Fitzroy and finds a friend in steadfast Scotsman Wickham, the Beagle’s second-in-command, who would go on to become one of Brisbane’s most celebrated early residents and Moreton Bay District’s first police magistrate.
Come aboard for a magical journey with the curious naturalist, from the dizzying heights of the Andes to the depths of the Amazon rainforest, through the storms of Tierra del Fuego, to the endless wonders of the Galapagos Islands. The supporting cast of humans in this world premiere are no less compelling.
“It’s much more than that however; it’s a coming-of-age story about science and faith, and how one doubting young man with a questing heart set out to ask a question of Mother Nature, and found the answer to everything,” said David Morton from Dead Puppet Society, who penned The Wider Earth and will also direct and design.
With a bevy of astonishing puppets breathing life into creatures great and small – from the tiniest longhorn beetle to the majestic southern right whale and the ancient Galapagos tortoise – Dead Puppet Society recounts the tale of scientific visionary Charles Darwin’s voyage on the HMS Beagle in The Wider Earth.
The production is the most ambitious for Dead Puppet Society to date, and is the result of nurturing from all over the globe after the company spent time working with the genre-breaking Handspring Puppet Company in South Africa and traveling to the Galapagos, before taking up a Residency in the New York City-based St. Ann’s Warehouse.
Commissioned by Queensland Theatre Company and set to reframe the visual theatre experience, The Wider Earth stars over 30 custom-created puppets, eight actors and two of Australia’s leading musical creators: Lior and Tony Buchen.
Writer, Director and Designer: David Morton Performers: Margi Brown Ash, Tom Conroy, Lauren Jackson, Thomas Larkin, David Lynch, Jonty Martin, Anthony Standish, Anna Straker Composers: Lior, Tony Buchen Co-Designer: Aaron Barton Lighting Designer: David Walters Sound Designer: Tony Brumpton Dramaturg: Louise Gough Creative Producer: Nicholas Paine
The Wider Earth
Bille Brown Studio – QTC, 78 Montague Road, South Brisbane
Season: 14 July – 7 August 2016 (previews: 11 – 13 July)
Information and Bookings: www.queenslandtheatre.com.au
Image: The Wider Earth