Australian puppetry - Richard Bradshaw

If you’re looking for a list of Australian puppeteers or companies, please visit this page instead.

To mark the new year, I thought it would be a good idea to do a series of posts about Australian puppetry, with a focus on notable performers or characters. And since Richard is a hot search engine topic, I thought I’d start with him. Video of his work is at the bottom of the post, along with a slideshow of photos.

Please DO NOT CONTACT ME about Richard Bradshaw. I have no contact with him and do not act as his agent. As far as I know, Richard does not have a website. So anyone looking for a way to contact him or view his stuff is best off contacting local Australian talent agents (more info on that below).

… I first met Richard during the UNIMA 2008 festival, while attending two of his workshops (you can read more about that here), but I’d heard a lot about his work before then. His work focuses on shadow puppetry, and is known the world over for his black and coloured silhouettes. In particular, he does a series of sketches, short scenes that are both visually interesting and funny. His most famous character is most likely ‘Super Kangaroo’, a sing-song sketch about a kangaroo superhero. (Very funny indeed; I saw it at the festival, you can read the review here and quoted below) It’s interesting to note:

Bradshaw’s Shadows is a show that he has been doing for over forty years, and is made up of short scenes – with no particular theme or threading storyline – which obviously changes over the years. There’s a reason why this show has been so popular over that time: Bradshaw takes our expectations of a particular scene, or his introduction to a particular scene, and turns it on its head. For instance, one animal hides behind a bush, and we first see a leg appear – a lady’s leg – it moves around for a few seconds, and then the animal walks out from behind the bush. It turns out the leg is actually the head of a large giraffe!

Bradshaw got into acting at a young age, and began doing puppetry at the behest of a school friend at the Clovelly Puppet Theatre (based in NSW). It was through this opportunity that he discovered shadow puppets, having also seen works by others touring the country. He didn’t continue puppetry as a career though: he has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Geology, and was a high-school teacher for ten years; throughout puppetry was a hobby.

A trip to England encouraged by Aussie puppeteer and mentor Edith Murray, brought about a performance at an amateur puppetry festival in Czechoslovakia, followed by performances in a number of other European countries. On return to Australia, Bradshaw became better known amonst the public by performing on ABC’s (Australia Broadcast Corp.) Play School, a show for young children, which features many educational and play activities. He’s performed on the show for over 30 years.

By 1969, Bradshaw moved completely to professional puppeteering with the Australian Children’s Theatre, and continued touring as a solo performer. In 1975, he was the artistic director of the inaugural Australian Puppet Festival in Melbourne.

(More on Richard’s influence on Australian puppetry and a full bio can be found in the seminal book, The Space Between, by Peter Wilson and Geoffrey Milne. A short section - 4 pages - on him is given in the first chapter, amongst other big names in the Aus. puppetry industry. This book is well worth a read for a full bio)

Richard shows a class of students his puppets at the UNIMA 2008 Congress in Perth, Australia.

Although it’s easy to attribute Bradshaw’s fame to his appearances on The Muppet Show (episode 122), and Jim Henson Presents, Bradshaw’s recognition amongst the festival goers got him to where he is today. The latter was a series in 1985 focused on puppetry around the world, and Bradshaw was the only person to perform from the Southern hemisphere. Apparently Henson saw Richard perform in 1972 in France, and then later in NY in 1974, and was greatly interested from these viewings. You may attempt to view a clip at the Jim Henson Works archives at the University of Maryland’s website, although it appears you have to be at three particular libraries in the US to do so; although you can also see the same clip below (one presumes it’s the same).

The piece was taped at the Marionette Theatre of Australia (one of the ‘older generation’ of puppetry companies in Australia, that now no longer exists) located in Sydney, where Richard served as the artistic director. In this role, Richard promoted the introduction of more ‘non-traditional’ forms of puppetry and developing new techniques, for which the authors of the above book note, "between 1976 and 1983 the Marionette Theatre of Australia was the place to be if you were interested in puppet theatre" (their italics, page 9). During this time the company produced many works which were considered outstanding by audience and industry alike; however, on the basis of an unsustainable move to a new venue and rejecting direct patronage of their financial supporter, the board replaced him in 1984.

In 1986, Richard was given the Order of Australia medal, for recognition of service to the performing arts as a puppeteer. These awards are part of a federally-recognised achievement, given out by the Governor-General every year; anyone can nominate an Australian to receive such an award, but they are narrowed down and approved by the GG. (The awards are a pretty big deal, at least within the local media and the people that are nominated/awarded)

Additionally, Richard has been given the Sidney Myer Performing Arts award in 1987. The Myer Foundation is a huge philanthropic organisation in the Australian arts industry - amongst supporting other things - and their awards and grants programs are taken seriously by anyone who’s anyone in theatre. His show has also been given a Frater Award by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training in 1997, for excellent contribution to that years’ performances for schools program.

His work isn’t limited to performing or making puppets; he also writes and directs. He was commissioned to write The Storyteller’s Shadow: A Celebration of Hans Christian Andersen, by Terrapin Puppet Theatre in 2005. And with such an extensive background in the beginnings of modern Australian puppetry, there are few of the ‘older generation’ of puppeteers he hasn’t worked with.

For those in the US and members of the Puppeteers of America organisation, you may borrow their World of Puppetry - Richard Bradshaw DVD, which includes video of the ‘Super Kangaroo’ scene, other performances, and interview with Jim Henson. (He was also reviewed in the July 2001 Journal of POA)

Those who are interested in finding out more about attending a workshop or performance, or booking Richard for an event, can contact Nexus Arts or Young Australia Workshop. He does tour internationally as well, so those in other countries may wish to send an enquiry through the above agents as to how to get him to come to a location near you.

(And now I fully expect some half-assed person from Wikipedia to steal this. And yes, I do feel like I’m his biographer now) … Pics are below the video.