Fantasy becomes reality in immersive show Goldfish

This collaboration between Terrapin Puppet Theatre and Japan’s Aichi Prefectural Theatre will make its Australian debut at the Arts House in February as part of the Asia TOPA triennial.

A single puppeteer welcomes audiences to the world of Goldfish, using light and shadow to tell a fable of people who sought to get rid of time – only to be struck by a flood.

Then, the lights in the theatre come up and two disaster recovery workers rush down the aisles.

They say there’s been a flood, and they need to turn the theatre into a disaster recovery centre.

Real life and fable begin to blend, and audiences are confronted with the question of how humanity should respond in times of increasing natural disasters.

Terrapin Puppet Theatre artistic director Sam Routledge says Goldfish is a performance experience aimed at young children and their families.

“This should be a very funny work that involves shadow puppetry and physical comedy,” Mr Routledge told North West City News. 

“It will get the audience thinking about, ‘What role does theatre and theatres have to play in times of increasing natural disaster? How, in the theatre, can we think sustainably about what we do and how we make work?’” he said.

In an effort to reduce carbon emissions during the show’s international tour, which will span Australia, Japan and Singapore, Goldfish will not travel with a set.

Instead, a new set will be built at each location using objects used in disaster recovery, like pallets of canned food and bags of rice functioning as sandbags.

Those materials will then be donated to disaster management organisations.

“It’s the first time that we’ve done it,” Mr Routledge said of the unique Goldfish touring model. 

“Many companies think very, very carefully about what materials they will be touring, and what they’ll be sourcing, where they go,” he said.

“But the process is really [having] all of the artists who are working on the production being on board with that strategy and wanting to do that – that’s the key.”

The work is part of the program for Asia TOPA, Australia’s major Asia-Pacific arts triennial, which is returning for the first time in five years in 2025.

Goldfish runs from February 26 to March 2. There will also be a post-show artist talk on February 27 and a relaxed performance on March 1. •