Paddington locals should open hearts and minds to Fauna the puppet
It seems puppet angst lives on – at least it appears so in parts of downtown Paddington. Some residents of the leafy inner Sydney suburb have raised written concerns with the City of Sydney Council over a planned puppet performance at Paddington Reservoir Gardens.
The performance, which includes a four-metre puppet called Fauna, explores 'themes of climate change and deforestation' and promotes conservation. The production firm has a record of educational programs and installations in museums and galleries across Australia and New Zealand.
According to a selection of the reported grievances, the proposed Paddington puppet show might cause: 'health and sleep disturbances, potential noise impacts, rowdy crowd behaviour, light spill into homes and crime'.
Not since the infamous US television show Crank Yankers, featuring impudent prank-calling puppets, has the world of marionettes promised so much while angering and confounding so many. It's enough to raise even the staunchest eyebrows, a la Parker from the Thunderbirds. 'Yes, m'lady.'
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From the balconies of the comparatively culture-starved reaches of regional NSW, Paddington's problem looks like a solution. The puppet show is part of the City of Sydney's Art and About festival. 'Expect art in any corner of our city, at any time' the blurb reads. The promise of the unexpected, for some in Paddington at least, looks as welcome as the Spanish Inquisition.
Here's an idea. How about cities on the edge, literally and figuratively, formally partner with Sydney in something wonderfully original? Imagine an Art and About festival that was truly mobile. Think Uncle Max bringing a puppet theatre to the children von Trapp in the wilds of prewar Austria. Even the Nazis, Marta's sluggish set changes, or men drinking beer with the foam afloat, couldn't stop The Lonely Goatherd: 'Layee odl, layee odl layee-oo'!
Imagine taking puppets, unwanted in Paddington, to areas comparatively starved of arts investment. Areas like the Central Coast, the Illawarra or the NSW Central West contend with government arts investment levels, per capita, well below those enjoyed in the eastern suburbs, which has received 23.5 per cent of total federal government arts funding over the past decade.
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