About the Company – Latest News!
Announcing…
The Memorandium - Currently in creative development, a work that will evoke the audience’s memories through objects, interactive & improvised story-telling and puppetry. Showings at La Mama theatre in August were very well received as was our showcase at the 2011 7th biennial International Museum Theatre Alliance conference at the National Gallery of Victoria in October. Next we have showings at the Village in Edinburgh Gardens, November 5th & 6th 2011. The Biscuit Readings and Short Pants No Holes are also showing at The Village this year – check The Village website for details.
Barking Spiders’ Big Butterflies will take their maiden flights on Sunday November 6th 2011, fluttering and flittering about at the AlburyCity Picnic in the Gardens event. See the Picnic website for details.
Heide 30th Birthday Celebration Weekend – We are designing the event entertainment spots, around celebration themes “Art, Architecture & Landscape”, to take place in November 13th, 2011. Check the Heide website for details
Slam Noir - November 12th 2011 – Co-produced by Black Hole Theatre and Lana Schwarcz, hosted by St Ali’s Cafe in South Melbourne, the puppet slam will feature short adult performances by puppeteers from Australia and overseas. Barking Spider will present Breakfast Serial – created by Leah Scholes & Penelope Bartlau, you’ll never look a cornflake in the eye the same way again.
The Big Hand for the opening night of Big West Festival – This is a large-scale community-based puppetry project for the opening night of Big West Festival on November 15th 2011. Barking Spider artist Penelope Bartlau is working with children from Footscray North Primary School to create lantern puppets, and Penelope will direct the puppetry segment of the opening night performance. Snuff Puppets have provided the Big Hand, and the Melbourne Museum the Federation Hand Bells which will underscore the puppetry event, music directed by Karen Berger.
Just Done….
Stories of Sunshine – We just finished our presentation of “Stories of Sunshine” for City of Brimbank, an evening of site-specific, local and history-based puppetry performance as part of the local “After Dark” series. The work was ncredibly beautiful, funny and deeply satisfying for the local community – Stay tuned for updates as we may be presenting the work again at different sites in the West in 2012.
Fairfax Festival, Swan Hill – Barking Spider was up in Swan Hill for a week in October for the 15th Annual Fairfax Festival, presenting Bunraku Puppetry with additional Shadow puppetry workshops. A fast & furious, jam-packed fest, it is one to keep on your radar if you have high-school aged kids who are passionate about the arts.
X - Puppets. Pirates. Adventure. We recently finished a bumper season of “X – Puppets. Pirates. Adventure” as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival – A collaborative work with Terrible Comfort, the work involved hand and shadow puppetry and visual theatre/object manipulation to achieve the filmic, the epic and the impossible. Written by Rob Reid, directed by Jason Lehane, puppets by Sayraphim Lothian & Dan Goronszy, and puppetry direction by Penelope Bartlau.
If Walls Could Talk - Our artistic director Penelope Bartlau received an Arts Victoria Artist in Residence grant, to work with Preshil Primary school in 2011, with children focussed on collaborative processes of story creation, installation building, and Bunraku style and object puppetry. Company members were involved in the residency as the spiders wove their thoughts and imaginings into the residency. Most fun was the ephemeral art exploration which involved a 6-week installation, watching food other objects rot and disintegrate. See the Artist in Residence site for details.
Talking Head – BSVT has been developing “Talking Head” – an idea initiated by Jason Lehane. “Talking Head” is a carni-style, touring, story-telling machine employing puppetry and live performance with multiple and adaptable shows. Courtesy of Melbourne Workers Theatre we had a two-week creative development period at Arts House in North Melbourne in May. Stay tuned for more news on this work. It’s going to big, weird and beautiful.
That’s My Turf – We had a very successful season at Scienceworks Museum in April, with “That’s My Turf” performances over the Easter & school holidays. Commissioned by Scienceworks, BSVT wrote & produced the work, all about bugs and creepy crawlies. Thanks to Melbourne Museum for the loan of several magnificent Philip Miller build giant bug puppets. Danielle Goronszy, Penelope Bartlau & Sarah walker were the key artists involved in the production.
Workshops- All hands On The Puppet, first presented at ArtPlay this year is designed to engage the whole family or groups of children in making and operating a puppet together. This is a fantastic workshop, for it’s power to engender collaboration and creativity. It was part of the the 2011 ArtPlay Puppet Carnival, 2011 Fairfax Festival, and presented at Dandenong Heritage Homestead. Our newest workshop “Character Archaeology”, premiered in September ’11 at Dandenong Heritage Homestead.
Workshops Coming Up:
December 3rd – Character Archaeology
January 5th – Sensational Painting
January 6th – Heide Mythmakers
January 13th – Black Cat Friday
January 14th – All Hands On The Puppet
January 9 – All Hands On The Puppet
January 10 – Character Archaeology
January 11 – Junk Scratch Orchestra
Both of Character Archaeology & All Hands on The Puppet workshops are available through Regional Arts Victoria “Arts-to-Go” 2012 Programme from February next year. See our ‘workshops” page for more info.
Barking Spider Philosophy
Established in 2006, Barking Spider Visual Theatre is a Melbourne-based puppetry and visual theatre company that develops and presents work to diverse audiences across ages and cultures, in Australia and internationally. The company members are dedicated to excellence in the form and practice of theatre, with a collaborative creative process. With illusion and transformation as the guiding aesthetic, Barking Spider aims to generate beautiful and truthful work that challenges habits of perspective and which allows audiences to feel, to delight, to dream and to be inspired.
It was incorporated in September 2006 and is on the Register of Cultural Organisations (ROCO), holds current Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) and Tax Concession Charity (TCC) status as well as is registered for GST. The ABN is 86 698 299 732.
All of the members/board of Barking Spider Visual Theatre Inc. reside in Melbourne.
Barking Spider Visual Theatre Objectives
Barking Spider Visual Theatre is a company aiming for excellence in form and practice and which seeks to work with artists from various backgrounds and disciplines.
Our Aims are:
To create excellence in the form and practice of theatre, with an emphasis on puppetry and visual theatre. To foster an open, spontaneous and uninhibited atmosphere of creation.
To develop a holistic working process, which ensures all aspects of production work together to create pieces defined by harmony and excellence.
To develop, promote and present work to diverse audiences across ages and cultures, in Australia and internationally.
To create beautiful and truthful work which allows the audience to feel, to delight and to dream.
To inspire wonder and awe. To transport audiences into new, complete and extraordinary worlds, so that they may see their own with fresh eyes.
Brief History – Older Stuff
Over the past five years BSVT has developed and produced no less than 16 productions, and when counting additional co-productions, workshops and current works in development, the company’s output to date comes to 31 works. Many of these works have had continuing lives: with tours and subsequent presentations to their premieres.
2010
Home – Albury Library-Museum & Art Gallery – “Home”, was a hybrid-arts project for children and adults, integrating art and historical objects in an exploration of what “home” means. The project combined visual arts, theatre arts, history and interactive storytelling for children and for adults.
In 2010 BSVT collaborated with Hoa Pham in her development & presentation of “Silence”, with two successful La Mama seasons and a outer Melbourne tour through Six-Pack.
Other 2010 works include BSVT a percussion meets object puppetry piece, “Page Turner”, an addition to our earlier collaborative piece “Breakfast Serial”.
In November ’10 we developed and presented “Beardo – A Tableaux Vivant”, an art performance work for Hawthorn Art Gallery ‘Beardo” exhibition. Beardo is now available for roving performances.
In August 2010, BSVT collaborated with Gorkem Acaroğlu, Creative Producer and Melbourne Workers Theatre to develop “The Revolution Will Be Televised” – TV pilot. Penelope Bartlau curated the event and filming of the television pilot. Jason Lehane assisted as lighting advisor, and Sarah Walker was event photographer. “The Revolution Will Be Televised” will screen on Channel 31 in 2011.
BSVT attended the Museums Australia conference in Melbourne, during September ’10. Penelope Bartlau and Maria McGann presented an abstract/workshop Reinventing Community Heritage for a Contemporary Audience.
2009
In 2009 we created “The Biscuit Readings”, a one-on-one interactive theatrical work which has performed at various festivals and events in Melbourne, regional Victoria, Sydney, Tasmania and in Adelaide at WomAdelaide in Feb ’10. At the Regional Arts Victoria AGM in Dunkeld, Victoria, Coburg Carnevale and Kew Courthouse Arts Launch most recently. Sponsored by Arnott’s. Additionally – our biggest news – The Biscuit Readings was launched online 2011.
Also in ’09 we created children’s work (with children involved in the development of the work) called “Short Pants No Holes“, premiering at La Mama for Kids, with performances at ArtPlay and Northcote Kids. “Short Pants No Holes” was invited to “Out the Box” puppetry festival in South Africa in May ’10.”Short Pants No Holes” has ongoing city and regional performances booked. We recently attracted a touring agent for Asian tours, Japan Global Network, in December 2010.
See the You Tube Link for “Short Pants No Holes”.
In 2009 artists Jason Lehane and Penelope Bartlau toured to Wagga Wagga, NSW, to present 3 days of workshops in theatre-making, object puppetry, Bunraku puppetry and Bouffon, with Gearstick Theatre.
In 2009 we also developed, created, management and presented a large community-based project “Invisible Connections” – The Wangaratta Heritage Theatre Project. This project was researched and developed from local history and objects. We worked with kids and adults across the whole production and presentation, from the ground up in research, to the creation of an art installation, to developing performances.
2008
In 2008 we produced “The Keeper”, with Canberra artist Chrissie Shaw, funded by Arts ACT. “The Keeper” had successful seasons at Canberra’s Street Theatre, La Mama, Melbourne, and is currently touring regional Victoria (RAV Funding) and NSW.
In June ‘08 we created two children’s shows commissioned by the Immigration Museum: “Chinese Shadow Tales” for the focus on China (January) and “Bunraku Baby” for Japan Day (July).
Also in ‘08, Barking Spider was also instrumental in assisting indigenous artist Jacob Boheme obtain funds from Arts Victoria and City of Melbourne for his large-scale community project “Stories from the Birrarung”.
2007
In 2007, we toured “Hatch”, a puppetry work for children, to three major Arts Festivals in India, with support from DFAT/Australia Council, Visy and the Handspan Visual Theatre Travelling Scholarship.
In this year BSVT travelled to Europe where various company members collaborated with Czech puppeteers for a performance of “Windows” at the Prague Quadrennial.
Also in 2007, “Dispatch” received the RE Ross Trust Playwrights’ Script Development Award. In ’08 “Dispatch” toured to Adelaide for the ASSITEJ Festival &; Brisbane for Brisbane Festival, supported by Myer Foundation. In February ’10 “Dispatch” completed a very successful season at 45 Downstairs funded by City of Melbourne.
