Artist Profile for 2015
SNUFF PUPPETS
Snuff Puppets is Australia’s leading giant puppet experimental theatre company. Founded in 1992, the company has established an international reputation for producing idiosyncratic performance that is simultaneously intimate and a wild unleashing of grand spectacle.
Snuff Puppets’ work transcends language barriers and connects with diverse audiences and engineers puppet audience collisions that leave all parties breathless. It combines elements of puppetry, live music, visual and physical theatre to create art that is accessible, visually spectacular and politically incisive.
Snuff Puppets tackle contemporary issues with an old fashioned and theatrical sensibility. We are committed to creating performance works for non-traditional sites and audiences. Our performance philosophy is gung ho, hit and run, in your face, hilarious and challenging. We tackle all that is taboo in society with a irreverent, and comic sensibility. We have an anarchic sense of fun and a splendid sense of tragedy that unite to portray the foibles and flaws of human nature.
ARTISTS
ANDY FREER
Artistic Director
Andy Freer is the Founder and Artistic Director, creator, writer, designer, puppeteer and performer at Snuff Puppets. Andy began making giant puppets in 1988 with Splinters Inc, eventually founding Snuff Puppets in 1992. Having travelled overseas to more than 20 countries with every tour since 2002, Andy has showcased the Snuff Puppets repertoire of productions and collaborated with professional artists on new works in Indonesia and Korea. He has taken the Snuff Puppets’ community cultural development model (known as People’s Puppet Projects) throughout Australia and to a wide variety of communities and artists in over 12 countries including Indonesia, Korea, Brazil, Taiwan, India and Denmark.
NIK WILSON
Puppet Builder and Performer
Nick has been working with Snuff Puppets since 2006, as a Puppet Designer, Builder, workshop facilitator and Performer. He was Puppet Designer and Builder for our most recent production Everybody, which involved the creation of a giant 26m human puppet and body parts. He was the primary designer for Snuff Puppets’ National Gallery of Victoria’s commission of the Albrecht Duhrer rhinoceros. He has also facilitated PPP’s in India, Taiwan, Denmark and Fairfax Youth Festival in Swan Hill, Victoria.
In addition to his work with Snuff Puppets, Nik has also worked as Designer/Builder and Senior Crew for The Village Festival over the past 8 years, presenting at Edinburgh Gardens, Falls Festivals and Canberra Centenary.
STEPHANE HISLER
Puppet Builder and Performer
Stephane began his career as a professional contemporary dancer, performing with various choreographers across Europe. He has since moved into choreography and works with a number of dancers, presenting in Ireland and Europe.
Upon his emigration to Australia, Stephane now works as Performer and Builder with Snuff Puppets. He has recently toured with Snuff Puppets’ Indonesian cross-cultural collaboration, Wedhus Gembel to Indonesia, Australia and Peru. He has worked as a Builder and Performer on Everybody and as a workshop facilitator in India, Denmark and South Korea.
ROSALIND HALL
Musical Director and Builder
Rosalind is a composer, musician and digital sound artist. She began working with Snuff Puppets in 2013 as a workshop participant for our Wedhus Gembel shows in Melbourne. She performed as part of the Snuff Puppets house band for our 21st Birthday celebration and performances in November 2013. In 2014 and 2015 she has composed and operated a soundscape for our latest show, Everybody.
Apart from Snuff Puppets, Rosalind has facilitated community music workshops, performed at a range of national and international festivals and composed her own original music.
