Video
“The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer” promo
“It’s Dark Outside” promo
“New Owner” promo
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Press
“Moving and powerful, this is a strong and memorable story that had us all enchanted.”
– Lucy Kingston, Radio Adelaide
full article (PDF)
”I highly doubt any $40 million Broadway spectacles could pack such an emotional wallop into two-and-a-half hours as Mr. Watts does into 45 minutes.”
– BroadwayWorld.com
“If Pixar had a theatrical division, one would think (and hope) they’d create something like this now.“
– Daniel John Kennedy, NYTheatre.com
“Their run here with Alvin truly was a highlight of my presenting career.”
– Sharon Moore, NSCU
More Press Quotes
“…an endearing Australian solo show told in stick-figure animation and puppetry…akin to a theatrical “Wall-E.“
– New York Times
“[The] underwater micro-epic has as big a heart as its unlikely hero, and offers a whale of a time in a miniature format.”
– Lyn Gardner, The Guardian (UK)
“A genuine all-ages work. Adults will respond to its melancholy and the depth of Watts’s vision. Children will find Alvin’s exploration of the underwater world both beguiling and delightful.”
– James Blake, The Sydney Morning Herald (AUS)
full article (PDF)
“Tech Savvy sophistication combines with child-like simplicity in a futuristic riff on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth.”
– The New Zealand Herald
“A pocket masterpiece of invention, staging, and performance.”
– David Pollock, Edinburgh Festivals
full article (PDF)
“Watts is also a virtuoso puppeteer, with Alvin’s puppet forms instilled with a warmth and pathos which is absolutely believable.”
– Julie Dawson, Edinburgh Spotlight
“The character of Alvin and the skill with which Watts brings to life his quest ensure that we’re swept along and utterly absorbed.”
– Lee McRonald, Hairline
full article (PDF)
The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer is a multi award-winning one-man micro-epic puppet show that melds technology and multimedia into a touching story of enduring love and the end of the world.
The seas have risen, billions have died and those who are left live on farms atop skyscrapers, atop mountains. The scientists have tried everything. Floating islands sank, space probes found nothing, and the giant sponges, visible from the moon, are now rotting icons of failure. Now science and humanity are turning to the oceans themselves. A last ditch effort to save the human race requires journeying down through the mysterious depths of the deep blue sea to find a new place for us to live.
Alvin Sputnik, who has just lost his wife, accepts this perilous mission so that he may to follow her soul down to the underworld so that they can be together again once more.
Created by Tim Watts, who employs an unique blend of mime, puppetry, live and recorded music, and animation to present an exploration of the next and oldest frontier: the deep blue sea.
It’s Dark Outside, commissioned by Perth Theatre Company, is created and performed by Tim Watts, Arielle Gray and Chris Isaacs with music composed by Rachael Dease. Puppetry, mask, animation and live performance are all expertly intertwined by the superbly talented cast to create a grand epic western about adventure, redemption and dementia.
As the sun sets, an old man and his noble tent go wandering into the wild. He is losing his mind. Swept up in a surreal world, he is on the run. Meanwhile, a mysterious tracker has caught the scent, and is hell bent on hunting him down. But while he can try and run away from the life he once knew, he can’t hide from everything. Inspired by experiences and research into Alzheimer’s and Sundowner’s Syndrome, the play is a heartfelt, fearless and inventive adventure about aging, getting lost and trying not to be found. Audiences are drawn in by the perfect mix of enchanting, scary, beautiful and uplifting moments that are woven throughout this must-see theater event.
From the creators of The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer and It’s Dark Outside comes a sensitive new show for all ages about loss, friendship and new beginnings.
Bernie is a boisterous puppy waiting to be chosen from the animal shelter. Mabel is a lonely widow, trying to fill the hole in her heart. The day they find each other is the beginning of a profound friendship – but Mabel is old, and Bernie is young – and suddenly alone.
Combining puppetry, live action and animation, New Owner takes us on a world of adventure through a dog’s eyes.
Bios
Tim Watts (Creator, The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer; Co-creator, It’s Dark Outside), is a performer, deviser, director, producer, puppeteer and animator. He is a founding member of Weeping Spoon Productions, an international multi-award winning independent theatre company based in Perth, Western Australia and has recently co-created The Last Great Hunt, a theater company, also based in Perth, Australia. He has performed/devised/directed theatre and participated in various workshops all around the world with leading theatre practitioners/ companies including Marek Bečka (Prague), Jean-Guy Lecat (Paris), Complicite (London), and Dell’Arte International (USA). His most recent credits include, Deathtrap (PICA, Perth), The World In Spite of Itself (China), Don’t Look Back (PIAF, Perth), Red Lashes (UNIMA 2008, Perth), Greed (Canada Fringe), Hope Is The Saddest (Brisbane Festival), Duck Duck Goose (The Blue Room, Perth), Oscar (The Blue Room, Perth) and most recently performed a sell out season of his solo show The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2011 Dublin Fringe Festival, Auckland Fringe, State Theatre Centre of WA, The Blue Room in Perth, the New York International Fringe Festival, New York City, where he received an award for “Outstanding Solo Show” and the Adelaide Fringe. Tim has also performed The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik in South Korea, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Tim was commissioned by Perth Theatre Company to create “It’s Dark Outside” in July 2012.
Chris Isaacs (Co-creator, It’s Dark Outside)
Chris has worked in independent and professional theatre for the past five years. He has credits as a writer, stage manager, mechanist and lighting designer. As Stage Manager, he has worked with Perth Theatre Company on David Williamson’s The Removalists (2010). He has also worked for Black Swan State Theatre Company and HotHouse Theatre on Kate Mulvany’s The Web (Albury/Wodonga and Perth Seasons 2009). He has worked as Assistant Stage Manager on Black Swan State Theatre Company’s Cyrano (2008), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe (2008) and Jandamarra (2008). He has worked for Matt Lutton’s ThinIce Productions as a mechanist on The Goose Chase (2007). As Lighting Designer he has worked on The Duck House’s Oscar (2008), Mythophobic Productions’ Hope is the Saddest (Brisbane 2008, Perth 2007) and Rusulka Thread (2008), Longwood Productions’ Horsehead (2008), Red Lashes Artist’s Red Lashes (2008 UNIMA International Puppet Festival), and Weeping Spoon Production’s A Night of Pleasure… From Outer Space (2006).
Arielle Gray (Co-creator, It’s Dark Outside)
Arielle Gray is a performer and theatre maker. She assisted in the creation of the multi-award winning The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer with Tim Watts. Her other theatre credits include devising and performing in Pollyanna, a large scale interactive promenade work at FringeWorld 2012. In 2009, Arielle was accepted into The Black Swan State Theatre Company’s HOTBED program, performing in Pool [No Water]; by Mark Ravenhill and The Darkroom by Angela Betzien at PICA (nominated “Best Supporting Actress’ for both shows at the Actors Equity Guild Awards). Other theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Western Australia), Hope is the Saddest Duck, Duck, Goose! (Winner ‘Member’s Choice’ at The Blue Room Theatre Awards), among others. She is also a member of The Big HOO HAA improvised comedy group and has been a proud member of equity since 2007.
The Last Great Hunt is a collective of seven Perth-based theatre makers: Adriane Daff, Arielle Gray, Chris Isaacs, Gita Bezard, Katt Osborne, Jeffrey Jay Fowler, and Tim Watts. We are creators, innovators, and above all else, explorers. Within each show, we hunt for new ideas and new ways of connecting with our expanding audience. We make a range of new and exciting theatre in a variety of forms and styles, including new writing, visual and physical theatre and interactive experiences. We strive to give our audience an engaging, challenging and moving night out at the theatre.
Downloads & Links
The Last Great Hunt‘s website, Alvin Sputnik on Facebook
