‘A little gem’: Much-loved Freo puppet theatre finds home

Fremantle’s Spare Parts Puppet Theatre wants Claremont Showground to be home for the foreseeable future.

It has already locked in shows for the next two school holidays at the Ellie Eaton Theatre and pitched a case to the State Government for funding to fix up the aged venue.

Artistic director Philip Mitchell told PerthNow a return to their home of 40 years remains the long-term ambition — despite the theatre at Pioneer Park being condemned just six months ago — but hoped Claremont could keep alive its beloved shows in the meantime.

“The plan is that we do have a home (at Pioneer Park), we just can’t use it, so we are hoping the State Government will help us demolish the existing theatre and build a new theatre there,” he said.

“But that’s going to take about 10 years … and we’ve had estimates from around $6 to $10 million to rebuild it.

“So at the moment, we are looking at a relocation to Claremont Showground in the Ellie Eaton Theatre to temporarily present our work.”

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre launched its Puppet Playtime program on February 23 in the foyer of their Fremantle venue, which is still operational despite the adjoining theatre being out of action.

But for the first time in four decades, the company will present its new production Show Day outside of Fremantle.

“We went to the Claremont Showground to ask about performing Show Day in the pavilion and they said ‘we thought you were interested in the theatre’ and we said ‘we didn’t even know there was a theatre here’,” Mr Mitchell laughed.

“We’ve uncovered a little gem in the centre of Claremont.”

After exhausting locations for a temporary home in Fremantle, Mr Mitchell said Claremont felt like the right call for the company.

“The lovely people from Hawaiian offered us the Sunshine Harvester on Marine Parade but there just wasn’t enough space there,” he said. “We had offers from Notre Dame University too but we are always competing with lectures and the actual use of the university so there just wasn’t enough space there either.

“I think what’s really important to remember about Spare Parts is that for 40 years we’ve had this business model where we reuse our repertoire and build all our puppets on-site. We are a total ecosystem.

“So to be nomadic just doesn’t fit the model that we have at the moment so it’s really important that we can find somewhere that we can do that.”

Mr Mitchell said they had asked the State Government to convert Ellie Eaton Theatre into what they needed for a longer temporary stay beyond their April and July shows.

“That’s what is in front of the Minister and Treasurer at the moment,” he said.

“We were told we would hear back by the end of January … so hopefully we hear something from them soon.”