By PEACE IJIYERA
LAST week, Bluey’s Big Play, The Stage Show came to town.
The Australian television program that has captured the hearts of many worldwide was brought to life at Gippsland Performing Arts Centre (GPAC).
Ahead of the show, the Express spoke with puppetry director, Jacob Williams, about the production, the challenges and what audiences can expect.
From pitching ideas, to writing the script, sourcing the cast, designing the set, designing the costumes, and composing the music; Mr Williams said “a lot of work goes into bringing these characters to life on stage”.
He explained that there’s about six weeks of rehearsals, but about 12 months of work in the lead up.
“It’s quite hard to find a lot of puppeteers around the world because there’s not many of them, so we often end up hiring actors and dancers and some puppeteers, people with experience. So, a big part of getting a cast ready for the show is teaching some of them the principles of puppetry”.
With all the work that goes on behind the scenes, seeing the audiences face light as the iconic theme music plays makes it all worthwhile.
“It’s fantastic. And it’s been a real gift to go to places like South Africa for example, where they don’t get a lot of shows from overseas … just seeing what it means for the audience, for the kids, but also for their parents and their aunties and uncles and grandparents. It really does mean a lot to the audience, which is great to be a part of,” Mr Williams said.
Among other challenges of creating a stage play like this one, Mr Williams said meeting the kids’ expectations is probably the biggest challenge, as kids are known to be brutally honest.
“We knew it was a huge responsibility of just how big this show is and how loved it is. We really were conscious of doing it right and making sure we lived up to how much it means to everyone and we didn’t want to let the producers down of the actual show itself,” he said.
“A lot of care was taken and a lot of consideration was taken too.”
Since 2020, the stage show has been taken across the globe. Mr Williams said the reactions and audience feedback never gets old.
“It’s been universal throughout the world. You know, the minute Bluey skips on it’s like you’re transported back to the 60s when the Beatles first walk on stage.
“It’s just quite deafening in the audience sometimes. But I love sitting in the audience and just seeing the reaction from the kids, it’s just adorable.”
The stage play comprises of life-sized puppets controlled by humans. The audience can see the human manoeuvring the puppet. One might think this causes a distraction or takes away from the character.
But when asked how that aspect is balanced, Mr William’s highlighted imagination as a gift children possess.
“One of the biggest ethos with Bluey is imaginative play and it’s something that kids do naturally as youngsters. They’ll play with their soft toys and bring them to life, so in a way, they’re natural puppeteers,” he said.
“And we wanted to represent that on stage. So, we’re very much interested in not hiding the puppeteers. So, they wear costumes which blend in with the set.
“But there’s tricks with puppetry where the puppeteers will put all their focus into the puppets. So, if you look at them, you follow their gaze into the puppets. But kids naturally just play along, or they see puppeteers on stage playing like they do.
“So, it’s their language and they’ll play along. Adults will see the puppeteers. But within time, they’ll be drawn into the play … and sort of tap into something that they used to do innately as a child.”
Mr Williams spoke about how special it was to bring the show to regional areas like Traralgon, giving children and families the opportunity to see Bluey comfortably in an area near them.
“I think it’s super important, it’s something Andrew Kay, the producer wanted to do when we first started touring. He wanted to take it to every single place he could in Australia.
“And we even went to the Tiwi Islands. We couldn’t get the set there, but we sent the team over there to run workshops with the kids and take one of the puppets over so they could experience Bluey, because it’s such a phenomenon and it has really touched a lot of people’s lives.
“It’s very much part of our ethos is to take it as far and wide as we can.”
The show has changed and adapted over the years, but Mr Williams promised the same amount of fun with lots of audience participation.
And what fun the audience had.
