Lemony S Puppet Theatre:
23/03/2020 to 14/07/2020
“Until there's a vaccine, I can't see how we can do shows of a thousand people. I just can't understand how that might actually be feasible”..
“It was like Dominoes falling. Like literally one thing after another, just toppled down. In some ways for us, there was a kind of shock, but we didn't have that much time to wallow because then the kids suddenly were home”.
About Lemony S Puppet Theatre:
Lemony S Puppet Theatre is a small, award-winning independent theatre company with a big reputation. With puppet theatre at the core of our work, Lemony S Puppet Theatre use puppetry to disarm the audience and go deep to the core of what it is to be human – to attach meaning to symbols and signs, to empathise and access the innate human ability to “suspend one’s disbelief”. We have a commitment to extending the form of puppetry beyond what is expected and constantly re-invent our practice, developing new styles and performance techniques. Based in Melbourne, our works have been seen throughout Australia and across the world.
Interview with: Sarah, Co-Director & Jacob Williams, Co-Artistic Director
Engagement with Moreland:
Brunswick residents and Lemony S Puppet Theatre office and rehearsal studio is based at Siteworks in Brunswick.
What type of projects were you working towards before the pandemic?
Sarah
Most of our work that we had this year was as freelance artists rather than under our company name. But having said that, we did have a work that was our adult work that we made at the end of last year called Taking Waters that was about to open at the Melbourne Recital Centre the week that everything shot.
I was directing a show for Art Centre Melbourne called, Charlie And The War Against The Grannies. It was quite exciting and a bit overwhelming because it was three years' worth of work to get it up to the opening. Most shows really take about three years of work before any audience ever sees it. But that was all going to open the week that the Art Centre had to shut.
Jacob
It was a particular struggle because we were living in New York last year and Sarah was co- writing this with Alan Brough while she was in New York. So there was a particular back and forth.
Sarah
And across time zones.
Jacob
And you know, it was quite a detailed journey to get to where it was. To just then kind of overnight...
Sarah
Pack down, put it in a shed and everybody just had to wait. Well look, it'll go on at this stage next year. But the longer this goes on, the more you think, well, will anything ever happen again. Until there's a vaccine, I can't see how we can do shows of a thousand people. I just can't understand how that might actually be feasible...This work was going to the Playhouse Theatre that seats a thousand people, which they have to sell a lot to make the costs. I just can't even see how people could socially distance in a theatre that seats a thousand people.. But they need to sell 500 or more of them to actually make it work. Who knows what's going to happen. It's a whole new ballgame that we are being tested on. Particularly for the performance because it needs humans in one space.
This year Jacob was about to start doing puppetry direction for Bluey, which is a kids show that’s been turned into a stage show, and he was the puppet director on that. That was a year-long tour.
Jacob
Lemony S Puppet Theatre was also curating a puppet festival for La Mama. So it was a really busy year and it was taking us up to mid next year in terms of work. That had also followed a very busy period to the previous six months where we toured nationally with one of our works.
Sarah
It's super weird. It's so weird. You can't make any plans because nobody knows. In South Australia I was talking to a festival director last week and they've actually managed to do a show, but it was an invited audience. In South Australia I suppose it's different because they've managed to eliminate it, but for how long, you know. Everybody has to just be ready to turn on a dime and remake plans at the drop of a hat.
Stage one restrictions were first implemented in Australia on the 23rd of March. When did you go into isolation?
Jacob
Last rehearsal day was on the 20th.
Sarah
The performing arts industry was the first to shut. So we kind of dealt with the shock and the extraordinary situation before I think any other industry was.
Jacob
Well, I remember I was also at work. I was having meetings with the company I was working with and Sarah was having meetings with hers and there was a possibility I was going to fly to Adelaide on the 23rd...And everyone was just, let's just hang on. And then of course it was all complete lockdown. We were super busy to super....
Sarah
It was like Dominoes falling. Like literally one thing after another, just toppled down. In some ways for us, there was a kind of shock, but we didn't have that much time to wallow because then the kids suddenly were home. School was shut early. And then we had to manage the worry and try and find a way to explain to them what was going on and why it was happening. I've got elderly parents that also live in Brunswick. My kids were very worried about their grandparents. And so we just did what we were told, right? From the beginning, because of my parents, but also good friends that are immune compromised. As soon as they said it, “right, don't do this, this, this, and this”. We did it. So very compliant for artists.
During lockdown, how did you manage working and also trying to support your children at the same time?
Jacob
Well, the theatre went into hiatus. Apart from the Melbourne Recital Centre that we were going to have in April, and the Puppet Festival in July, we were having downtime anyway with the company and focusing on our freelance work. But that went into hiatus also and we were busy packing things away and getting ready for homeschooling. We'd been so busy that I think I was quite happy not to work, because I've been busy for three years without a break. So the downtime was quite good and I really enjoyed the chance to garden, cook, spend time with the kids playing board games…
Sarah
The first three weeks of the first lockdown was actually quite nice because we all just potted around the house and fixed the garden. Our kids have had this long desire to make a doll's house for their toy mice. So we made that with the kids, we called it the Mouse Mansion! And we made little bedrooms and little bookcases with tiny little books and a kitchen with rolls of bread. And, you know, it was mad. We just used old stuff we had in the studio, put on an audio book and the four of us just spent three weeks building this crazy mouse mansion thing!
But then when the homeschooling started, that was a real struggle because for lots of reasons... One of our children just really didn't enjoy it. It felt like he was being punished. And so we just had to put our energy into him. It couldn't be a balance. I was doing a little bit of administration work on the days that I wasn't helping him. We took it in turns.. But really there was no space for that, because he really needed us just to be his parents. It was a terrible time emotionally in that period. So that's what we did. And also with my elderly parents, we needed to make sure that they had what they needed to kind of cope. So we really just went into family mode. But weirdly in that time, we also found out that we got a grant from Creative Victoria and The City of Melbourne to make a new children's show. So that was good. It's really good.
Website: emonys.net.au
Instagram: @lemonyspuppettheatre
Was there any great experience that has happened during this time for you?
Sarah
It was great when we were allowed to see our mates again. There was such a joy in just that little bit of interaction that we had with various people... I mean, I think we had two lots of interludes with friends at that time.. And it made you realize why you like the people in your life. You know, it reaffirmed my friendship choices. That was a really big joy for me. To see everyone again and honing in on why I love them.
Do you have any future visions for Lemony S Puppet Theater?
Sarah
I don't know yet. It's gonna depend. We don't get any ongoing funding. It will really depend on what happens in the industry. If Australia has entered a massive recession, the first thing that will go is things like arts funding. That always happens. So it's hard to really know if we'll do it the same way in the future or not yet.
Interview and photos by Simon Aubor. Photographed prior to the 2020 Flourish: Arts Recovery Grant