People like puppets. The festival hadn't even started and one of the volunteers from Blackheath approached me with "You know Sue, what we should do next years is ..." This wasn't a measure of criticism. It was enthusiasm. The place was jumping with excitement.
Norman Hetherington opened the festival by making one of his famous squiggles from a drawing of the festival logo.
His skill, fabulous timing and very witty presentation impressed even the most 'openings' hardened politicians. It was such a privilege to have Norman there. Hardly a moment went by during the whole festival when he wasn't graciously talking to one of his many admirers.
Not to let a fundraising opportunity go by, Rowena McGregor (Festival co-ordinator) had the squiggle framed and auctioned it at the adult cabaret the next night.
The cabaret was an experiment that went exceedingly right. More than 130 adult faces were beaming with pan?like delight as they experienced six very different puppetry vignettes. One man told Jonquil Temple that he brought twenty people with him and next year he'll bring forty! He hadn't felt so joyfully young in spirit for a very long time.
The aim of the festival is to eventually make it international while continually showcasing and supporting Australian talent. The international flavour came a little earlier than expected. Shona Reppe from Scotland just happened to be in Sydney at festival time. I nearly didn't invite her ?what a mistake that would have been. Her ability to charm her audience was well matched by her puppetry skill. One of Shona's major influences in puppetry was Anita Sinclair via her book, 'The Puppetry Handbook', which Ray Da Silva (UK, Ed) had recommended to her. She was astonished to find her mentor was at the festival and Anita was so impressed at how well this young performer had put words into action.
I must thank each of the highly talented artists who contributed to the festival this year. Their willingness to share rooms (even beds), help each other, cook for one another and to give critical appraisals of work when asked, was inspiring. The spirit of the festival was collaboration not competition.
The staff and volunteers at Blackheath worked so hard to make the festival a success.
We puppeteers are very lucky to have such community support and they are willing to do it all again next year. It's never too early to let me know if you would like to be part of it. I've already had emails from puppeteers in South America and Europe wanting to join us in 2000.
We sold 1,500 tickets this year, 500 more than in 1998. We even have some money in the bank to get things rolling for the next one.
Thanks must go to our major and minor sponsors especially the New South Wales Ministry for the Arts who gave a grant of $8,000 and all that money was spent paying, housing and feeding artists. Isn't that fantastic.
Sue Wallace.
