A Life In Puppetry

World renowned shadow puppet master Richard Bradshaw needs no introduction to the international puppetry community. His work has been seen by millions through a life time of stage performances all over the world and through television appearances including “The Muppet Show” and an hour-long documentary in the series “Jim Henson Presents The World of Puppetry”. Australian children grew up with performances of his shadow artistry on ABC TV’s “Playschool”, where his shadow puppets were broadcast for over 30 years.

From 1976 to 1983 Richard was Artistic Director of Australia’s then largest puppetry company, the Marionette Theatre of Australia. Under his directorship the company secured a permanent theatre space in The Rocks in Sydney. As Artistic Director, Richard introduced modern puppetry techniques to Australian audiences and inspired many young puppeteers who were given the opportunity to work and learn from some of Australia’s best puppeteers and puppet makers.

Richard has performed with his shadow puppets for audiences of children and adults for over 50 years to over 25 countries.

In 1986 Richard received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) “for services to the arts as a puppeteer” and in 1987 he shared the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award “for sustained excellence in the field of puppetry”.

Richard been a member of the international puppetry organisation, UNIMA, since 1964 and helped to establish UNIMA Australia in 1970. He is an honorary member of both organisations, and was President of UNIMA Australia from 2004 to 2008.

In 2015 he published his book “Richard Bradshaw’s Guide to Shadow Puppets”, where he shares his techniques for designing, constructing, and performing with silhouette shadow puppets.

Acknowledgements

Richard attributes his success to his beginnings with Clovelly Puppet Theatre under Joan and Betty Raynor...

"They had had years of experience as travelling players themselves, in Europe, the U.S.A, as well as here, and I learnt a lot of “theatre-craft” from them. Before I went out on the road with a caravan we had several weeks of rehearsals and tidying up of the items, with some free try-outs in “institutions” which made the school audiences much easier to face."

He admires contemporary puppeteer Ronnie Burkett, saying...

"[his] talent and wonderful output overwhelms me. He is also extremely brave with his recent show, which is a dramatic departure from earlier shows and explores a radically new approach to puppetry and its audience and it’s intriguing to think where it might lead. "

He also mentions Dennis Murphy as a contemporay he admires.

Also on Richards list of great puppeteers are Hugo and Ines. They are based in Peru, but Ines is originally from Bosnia. Their act bridges mime and puppetry. Check out Hugo’s animated knee here and here. More great work from this due includes a mime with hat, foot-puppet, and hand puppet.

Richard tells of Hugo Ines...

"What is especially pleasing about their work is the precision of the movement as well as inventive exploration of possibilities. I had the pleasure once of sharing a theatre in Philadelphia with them for a week, but we’ve met up at several other festivals."

Further contemporaries include Philippe Genty "whose work is inspiring…or Henk Boerwinkel of Triangel etc. etc and the Toone Theatre of Brussels".

Further Reading From Richard...

"You might enjoy reading about my uncle. I would like to say what a great influence he was on me, but the truth is I hardly knew him. He left Australia in 1929 and I didn’t meet him until I went to London in 1964 and I never really got close to him, much to my disappointment. I saw him perform a few times, and he came to a review I acted in in 1965 and also saw my shadow show in 1979…but I don’t think he was too impressed. I had the impression that he wasn’t all that keen on puppets, but when he died I got the news from a Punch and Judy man he had toured the London halls with and then discovered that the shows he was working with then were directed by a puppeteer I had met soon after I had arrived in England in 1964! "

"Fred worked for many years at the Players’ Theatre Club in London which is where Jan Bussell had met his wife, Ann Hogarth … but that was before Fred was there. However, after my grandmother died I found... photos in a book about the Players’ Theatre that Fred had sent her. Directly to to right of [a] photo of a young Jan is my uncle!"

Here’s a link to a blog about Richard's Uncle Fred