A Life In Puppetry

In this first half of our two-part interview with Richard Bradshaw, we talk about his beginnings at The Clovelly Puppet Theatre and The Marionette Theatre of Australia, his travels as a touring performer and his time with Jim Henson and Caroll Spinney

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World renowned shadow puppet master Richard Bradshaw needs no introduction to the international puppetry community. His work has been seen by millions through a life time of stage performances all over the world and through television appearances including “The Muppet Show” and an hour-long documentary in the series “Jim Henson Presents The World of Puppetry”. Australian children grew up with performances of his shadow artistry on ABC TV’s “Playschool”, where his shadow puppets were broadcast for over 30 years. 

From 1976 to 1983 Richard was Artistic Director of Australia’s then largest puppetry company, the Marionette Theatre of Australia. Under his directorship the company secured a permanent theatre space in The Rocks in Sydney. As Artistic Director, Richard introduced modern puppetry techniques to Australian audiences and inspired many young puppeteers who were given the opportunity to work and learn from some of Australia’s best puppeteers and puppet makers.

Richard has performed with his shadow puppets for audiences of children and adults for over 50 years to over 25 countries. 

In 1986 Richard received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) “for services to the arts as a puppeteer” and in 1987 he shared the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award “for sustained excellence in the field of puppetry”. 

Richard been a member of the international puppetry organisation, UNIMA, since 1964 and helped to establish UNIMA Australia in 1970. He is an honorary member of both organisations, and was President of UNIMA Australia from 2004 to 2008.

In 2015 he published his book “Richard Bradshaw’s Guide to Shadow Puppets”, where he shares his techniques for designing, constructing, and performing with silhouette shadow puppets.

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