*For workshop tickets only, press the Skip to More Tickets button. Please note, for the 11:15am workshop, select the 10am show and for the 2:15pm workshop select the 1pm show.

Spike is the story of an echidna who is stolen from his nest by a greedy rat. He hatches from his egg far away from home. A young girl finds him. She is playing alone in the bush because she is being bullied by other children. He has no spikes yet and she doesn’t know what kind of creature he is. She tries to work out where he comes from, but accidently puts him in dangerous situations – in the nest of a crocodile, an emu and a turtle. He feels frightened, rejected, alone. As the story unfolds, she helps him to discover where he belongs, and he helps her to find her own “spikes” and stand up to the bullies.

Told with shadow theatre, Spike is an interactive experience for the audience, with lively original music by Mal Webb. It is entertaining and fun, as well as a catalyst for a discussion about difference and belonging. It also about the unique biology of Australian animals, especially the egg-laying echidna. After the performance there is a demonstration of shadow puppetry techniques, introducing children to an expressive hands-on story-telling medium that is highly accessible to young people.

Starring Jenny Ellis
Written By Jenny Ellis & Anne Brooksbank
Composed By Mal Webb
Directed By Jacob Williams & Clare Batholomew
Designed By Jenny Ellis, with design concepts by Richard Bradshaw and Fabrizio Montecchi
Puppets, Sets and Lights By Jenny Ellis, Lauren Redpath, Freya Pitt and Nick Wollan

Stay for a shadow puppet workshop!

Watch as your drawings leap to life, off the page and onto the stage in the July school holidays!

Come along and explore the world of shadow puppetry with experienced puppeteer, Jenny Ellis. This hands-on workshop will give children the skills to make their own shadow puppet and bring it to life in a puppet show. Participants will imagine and design their own unique puppet characters, then they’re guided through the process of making their puppets and giving them movement to bring them to life. Children will work together in small groups to create their own shows. With a few tricks of the trade, they will finish with a performance of their own stories on a real shadow puppet stage.

After each show: 11:15am & 2:15am

Contact the host of Little Wing Puppets: Spike the Echidna