It’s mid-morning on a Tuesday two weeks ago. In a West End rehearsal space, we’ve been invited to have a sneak peak at the joint collaboration between Dead Puppet Society and the Queensland Theatre Company, The Wider Earth. There’s a buzz about the show, written by David Morton, which has been building for months. The Wider Earth is set to reframe the visual theatre experience with over 30 custom-created puppets, eight actors and a score by Lior and Tony Buchen. With a bevy of astonishing puppets breathing life into creatures great and small – from the tiniest longhorn beetle to the majestic southern right whale and the ancient Galapagos tortoise – The Wider Earth reimagines the tale of scientific visionary Charles Darwin’s voyage on the HMS Beagle.The Wider Earth is the brainchild of Morton who wrote, directed and designed the show. To say the puppets are impressive would be underselling it. The production is the most ambitious for Dead Puppet Society to date, and is the result of nurturing from all over the globe after the company spent time working with the genre-breaking Handspring Puppet Company in South Africa and traveling to the Galapagos, before taking up a Residency in the New York City-based St. Ann’s Warehouse.

Sean Sennett caught up with creative producer on the project, Nick Paine and acclaimed local actor Thomas Larkin, who plays the role of John Wickham in the production.

TOM:The Dead Puppet Society went to Brooklyn for eight months of pre-production. How was that experience?

Nick:We were developing the show for St. Ann’s Warehouse for that whole period of time. The specific focus of the development program was on developing the kind of art form of puppetry. We were working with eight other companies who also work in the art form, which for us was a really eye-opening experience. We’ve never collaborated or connected with any other puppet-based artists before because they’re not really around in Australia. It was about extending the form and developing the very initial concepts through that process. That resulted in a 20-minute work in progress showing. And all of those artists have gone on to further develop their work in very different arenas.

TOM: I understand you did a showing at the Lincoln Centre (NYC).

Nick:We did a two-day workshop of the script. Yes, since the St. Ann’s showing which was more of a staging, the work was written by David into its fullest form as a full-length play. That was workshopped both here at QTC and at Lincoln Centre

TOM:In a nutshell, what’s The Wider Earth about?

Nick:It’s an imagining of Charles Darwin’s voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle, and why that’s really exciting for us is because we found out a couple of years ago, whilst we were in South Africa, that when he left on the voyage he was only 22-years old. It’s a bit of a coming of age adventure story, which we find quite relevant to us and where we’re at here.

TOM:What attracted you to the script? You’re looking for a good story obviously, then I assume it was seeing how the puppets would work in that context?

Nick: I think so. I think given the nature of the show and the amount of places around the world the voyage took Charles Darwin and his team – it gave us so much scope for different puppet characters. We were really interested too in making a show that used a whole suite of animal puppets, which we’d never done before. They lend themselves so beautifully to the story that we’re telling.

TOM:How did the connection with QTC come about?

Nick:I guess as graduates of QUT about nine years ago, we always strive to be working at the Queensland Theatre Company. We kind of engage with a lot of different companies in Brisbane and nationally, and more recently internationally. But I guess all of those have served as a stepping stone to start connecting with QTC. They presented one of our other works in August last year, and we’ve been in conversation about this work for a long time. There’s been an ongoing relationship there. It’s now come time to create our biggest production to date.

TOM:How long from page to stage?

Nick:It’s about a three-year process. By the time we open it will have been exactly three years.

TOM:Thomas, how did you come to be involved?

Thomas: I’ve known the boys and known of their work for a long time. While I’ve never worked with the company, I’ve had a real fascination with the work they do, particularly being a performer who’s a very physical performer. I think I really enjoyed their aesthetic and I was particularly excited when I heard of this project. I heard whispers of the project and the next challenge the boys had set themselves is bringing in actors to work with puppets. It became a communication between the two. Then I was fortunate enough to be approached for one of the many creative developments that took place, and was lucky to be asked to come and play.

TOM:What attracted you to the character you’re playing in the show?

Thomas: John Wickham, first of all he’s a Scotsman. I’ve never had the good fortune of playing a Scotsman and exploring that sort of world. I have Irish blood in me, with the name of Larkin. But I’m pretty sure there’s some loose Scottish connection there as well.

That for one was an interest. The other thing was John Wickham was historically the first magistrate of Moreton Bay. In fact, Wickham Street here in Brisbane is named after the man himself. Being a Brisbanite born and bred, there’s a lot of history that relates to where I grew up, where a lot of us grew up, that is intrinsically linked to his character. For me that’s a very special connection, and grounded in something that’s bigger than the story as well, which was exciting for me. It’s been a really enjoyable process to explore the historical figure, but then also take certain creative leaps of faith.

TOM:What’s your process in bringing an historical figure and making him a man again in the theatre in Brisbane?

Thomas: I initially start off with basic research as to who is this man. You look for the facts. Once you have a suite of facts, you start picking different bits and pieces that are useful. There’s a whole bunch of things that aren’t useful and become disposable as the process goes along, from creative development, all the way through to getting up on the floor.

Then ultimately, with a story like this, you’ve really got to ask yourself questions such as what is the function that your character plays in the sweep of the whole story. Of course, it’s this adventure story and journey of Charles Darwin going on this phenomenal personal journey, but also a greater, larger journey, which would later influence how the world saw how we came to exist.

I guess for me, it’s about approaching it and going what are the nuts and bolts about this character? How does he work in the larger picture? Then chucking out what’s not useful and then inventing things that are.

TOM: Has Darwin’s book (Origin of The Species) been mandatory reading for everybody in the cast?

Nick:Not mandatory, I don’t think. I think a lot more people had an engagement with the Origin of Species or who know about evolution, maybe studied it in school, that kind of thing. But where our story really takes place is the voyage of the Beagle and that whole story, which a lot of people really don’t know a lot about. When they think of Darwin, they think of him as the guy with the grey, long beard, but we’re really interested in telling the story of him and where he really first started developing his theory of evolution, and how those ideas were sparked.

TOM: The puppets look amazing. What were you holding in the rehearsal room?

Thomas: That’s a blue-footed booby, number two. One of two blue-footed boobies.

TOM:Is one an understudy?

Thomas:They play integral roles. One has been designed specifically to fly, which is the one I was holding. The other one has been designed by the boys to be operated from the ground. Blue-footed booby, like a lot of the animals, have these incredible personalities that come through. There’s a huge amount of personality in the way they fly, but also, there’s a lot to be found in the way they walk around and act when stationery. That’s why two were designed.

TOM:How long does it take create a puppet from scratch?

Nick: David was designing them for over a year. There are intricate pieces that go together for them to move very realistically, and then there’s the laser cutting and assemblage. It’s about a three-week process beyond design.

TOM:How many on the team?

Nick:By the time we finish there will have been about 35 collaborators on this production.

TOM:What’s the running time?

Nick:It’ll run for two hours, including a 20-minute interval.

TOM:Wonderful. Thank you.

The Wider Earth by David Morton plays at the Billie Brown Studio until August 7. Tickets and info at qldtheatre.com.au Writer/Director/Co- Designer: David Morton. Creative Producer: Nicholas Paine. Co- Designer: Aaron Barton. Lighting Designer: David Walters. Composers: Lior and Tony Buchen. Sound Designer: Tony Brumpton. AV/Animator: Justin Harrison. Illustrator: Anna Straker. Cast Includes: Tom Conroy, Anthony Standish, Lauren Jackson, Margi Brown-Ash, Thomas Larkin, David Lynch, Jonty Martin and Anna Straker