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For several years now Melbourne has been home to a small puppetry event. It seems somewhat sponsored by Federation Square (for non-Melburnians, this is a large modern complex in the city centre, which has been famous/notorious for its odd design. It also houses art galleries, a performance space, and several upmarket restaurants) and Artplay, a local arts organisation that does community events.

I'm not much familiar with this event, for two reasons: June/July in Melbourne is an odd time. It's right between the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (3rd largest comedy festival in the world) in April and the Melbourne Fringe Festival in September. Smack in the middle of the Fringe is the Melbourne International Arts Festival, sort of a 'fine arts' festival including the world's best theatre, music, and art. These are the three biggest theatrical events of the year, and since June/July is the time when performers can regroup, rehearse, and get their shows running again for September, Artplay's and Fed Square's event is badly placed for local artists to easily participate. But then, it's not for artists really: it seems more about getting kids and families involved in more hands on ways with puppets.

The other reason I've not gotten involved is actually a personal one, and one which I'm not going to go into here.

But let's get back to the explanation: PuppetLab and Puppets @ Fed is a good couple of weeks worth of puppet shows and workshops. My feeling is that the recent versions of the event are actually a dumbed-down (or at least less exciting) version of the 2006 inaugural Melbourne International Puppet Carnival - taking on a different name, and I would say, a less obvious marketing scheme. (I could be wrong, but the Carnival seems to have disappeared without a trace, and this Puppets @ Fed thing appeared roughly around the same time, without a real introduction to the local arts community. Same organisers and same venue suggests to me it's the same basic thing) The 2006 event was in your face, flyers and brochures everywhere: 2008 sees a very small amount of marketing. UPDATE: I've since noticed on the Carnival website that it states that the Carnival is 'biennial' (and therefore being done in 2008), and that in the inbetween years there will be smaller events. Either way I think it's still a pretty lame effort... read on.

Putting aside my own personal feelings about the event, I am an advocate. In Melbourne, even the professional theatre workers (both cast and crew) are surprised to discover that people do puppetry in this town. It's so novel, in terms of market saturation, that we really do need more things to promote the craft. Furthermore, it gives local puppeteers a chance to show their work in front of an audience that rarely has a chance to see puppetry outside of school performances and one-off events. There's some great and diverse workshops, and I'm pleased to see that this year's program includes community puppetry with Indigenous themes. Sadly, as mentioned, much of the program is aimed at children, including most of the workshops and pretty much all of the performances.

This is why perhaps the Carnival morphed into this lesser being: I attended a number of shows in 2006, and remember distinctly that the majority of the program was for an adult audience, probably missing out on the much-needed income opportunities that children's puppetry offers - and adult puppetry doesn't (Note: I'm not referring to 'adult' as in R-rated, simply something with a more serious or mature tone). In this year's program, there are any number of workshops I'd love to attend (the Wayang Kulit for starters), and even the blurbs for the workshops sound like they are for adults, but then the age range is given as being for kids. It's sad to see that the young adult and middle-aged aren't catered for, because in this fringe-theatre town, there'd be heaps of people who would be keen on attending.

Add to the fact that while there are roving performers, there's no indication of a big carnival day or parade... and well, I think this event falls short of the mark.

Years ago, my course coordinator at Swinburne, used to talk of creating an international puppet festival in Melbourne. And when this one came along (alas, not created by him) I was all excited. I have to admit, this is a great start; but we can do better. Especially in light of the recent UNIMA 2008 festival and the previous Melbourne 2002 Puppet and Animatronics Summit. Is this really how we want to present puppetry to our city? As something just for the winter school holidays, no adults allowed?

Nevertheless, if you are in town during June and July, you may want to check out some of the fare offered anyway. I've not attended any of the Artplay workshops, and haven't seen anything on this year's program; so ultimately, I make up for a very 'outside observer' on the whole thing.

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