La Boite Theatre Company, Dead Puppet Society and Brisbane Festival in association with Power Arts have all teamed up to present 'Laser Beak Man'.
A jam-packed production with trademark visuals from artist Tim Sharp, featuring live music by Sam Cromack from Ball Park Music, 'Laser Beak Man' is brought into puppet life by the complex and creative minds of the Dead Puppet Society. Artist Tim Sharp is 28 years old and uses drawing as a technique to communicate and deal with autism.
Executive Producer of Dead Puppet Society Nick Paine says 'Laser Beak Man' is a superhero story told in a brand new way. “The show is an adaptation of an artwork series by a visual artist who is based in Brisbane called Tim Sharp. He has made a whole fleet of superhero characters of which the main character is is Laser Beak Man,” Nick says. “He has created the entire city called Power City and it's basically a story about Laser Beak Man who is a superhero with a difference and we learn how to find out what that is and how he comes to save Power City.”
Nick says the production has been a long time coming, with the idea originating back in 2013. “David and I who started Dead Puppet Society have been long time admirers of Tim Sharp's work, in 2013 we had a show at the Brisbane Powerhouse with one of our other works and Tim had an exhibition in the foyer. We saw his work and started talking and it turns out we have a lot of similar interests,” Nick says. “He came to see our show and we all thought 'wow, wouldn't it be amazing to adapt this art work into puppet based visual theatre' and all of the ideas evolved from there. The collaboration has just grown and grown over the past couple of years.”
Nick took the idea to adapt visual artwork into puppetry to the New Victory Theater in New York, which is the longest running theatre in New York City.
“We took the concept to them (New Victory Theater) in 2013 and started working with them in residence until last year,” Nick says. “We decided to premiere the work here in Australia in Brisbane because it's our hometown, both the Dead Puppet Society’s and Tim's.”
The production will be a fresh look into a superhero story that is destined to bring a smile to the crowd. “Basically it will be cult classic superhero but with a whole new fresh and exciting look, it will be bright, colourful, hilarious but most importantly joyful,” he says. “This is the first time we've actually adapted a series of artworks and kind of undergone this kind of collaboration. We did a large-scale visual theatre work using puppetry and live music last year which was called 'The Wider Earth' with Queensland Theatre. So in terms of scale it would be up there with that but in terms in process its completely different.”
Nick says that working with Tim has been amazing. “All of the ideas come from Tim, all of the ideas are existing in his mind but the process we've gone through is to really draw them out and to how they can be adapted to the stage. Sam Cromack from Ball Park Music has been a real key in that process as well.”
Although puppetry appeals greatly to children, Nick believes that 'Laser Beak Man' is really meant for an older crowd. “The feedback we've had in New York is that there's a lot of puppet shows for kids but this show really if you look at Tim's artwork, is for adult audiences,” Nick says. “Although families might enjoy it, it's really targeted for teens and up. They've been really excited in the states about the work but I think in Brisbane they've been really excited that it's premiering in the hometown of all of the artists.”
