In the aftermath of the Christchurch Mosque tragedy in 2019, when an Australian man shot and killed 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand’s worst-ever mass shooting, Southeast Queensland’s Larrikin Puppets began the creative development of a puppet show about a girl in a hijab.

And that show is about to have its premiere in Logan.

The creative development process came on the back of an enquiry by the authors of the book ‘Hijabi Girl’ – Hazel Edwards OAM and Ozge Alkan who approached Larrikin Puppets about bringing their book to the stage. 

What followed was years of consultation, crowdfunding, puppet builds, songwriting and recording, the recruitment of culturally diverse child voice actors and significant alignment with Australia’s national school curriculum. 

“We managed to crowdfund $8300 120 days to help build the puppets and the set for Hijabi Girl,” the production’s co-creator Elissa Jenkins said. 

“This was a huge cry of support for love, acceptance and understanding of other cultures in Australia.”

Her husband and co-creator Brett Hanson believes the new in-theatre production will “hold appeal”.

“It’s a story of a girl who dresses differently to everyone else and is totally fine with who she is. Unlike many fearful news messages that imply different is bad and scary, Hijabi Girl is a fast-paced romp that celebrates confidence and acceptance.”

The main puppet cast is voiced by nine Queensland child actors and singers, aged between nine and 13, including Turkish and Vietnamese language voices which are all pre-recorded for the show.

A lengthy recruitment process took place, and the casting net was extended further and further as Brett and Elissa searched for children with Turkish and Vietnamese ethnic backgrounds. 

“We searched long and hard, but we were unable to find a Turkish-Australian child voice actor in South-East Queensland to voice Melek nor a Vietnamese-Australian child voice actor/singer to voice Tien,” Elissa explained.

In the end, two voice actors were recruited to voice Melek:13-year-old child actor Mabel Tamone (Aquaman) and 13-year-old singer Caitlin Trappett. 

“We love that, as these children age, their voices will remain captured as the voices of these puppet characters,” Elissa said, explaining that auditions took place both face-to-face and via zoom as the pandemic impacted recruitment.

“The children selected were cast and paid for their work. For many, it was their first professional, paid role,” she added.

“While the show is primarily in English, we include a Turkish and Vietnamese language version of the narration and even have the character Tien say something in Vietnamese that is not interpreted at all. Only those in the audience who speak Vietnamese will understand it. We cast two Vietnamese children – a boy and a girl – to provide these Vietnamese language voices.

Elissa and Brett work both on the business and in the business. But Elissa has only been a professional puppeteer for six years. She credits a stint in New York where she had the opportunity to attend training in puppetry in film and TV as the catalyst for this career-shift.

“It was really difficult and I was really bad at it, but from that point onwards I was hooked and figured I’d give it a proper go. Brett continued to train me in puppetry for stage and screen and together we now collaborate on scripts and songs for the shows.”

And a career-shift it was. Elissa has three degrees, including a Master of Arts in Social Science and was previously a journalist, non-profit worker and marketing consultant, and even ran for state and federal public office numerous times.

“I continue to work part-time at a political thinktank. However, I am ultimately a creative writer.”

Brett, who has been a professional puppeteer for close to a decade, sketched colourful puppetry designers and connected with puppet builders from Melbourne who worked together on the puppet builds. 

The book’s co-author Ozge Alkan, who wears a hijab herself, also advised on the main character’s hijab. Puppets include a Turkish kebab and a plate of Vietnamese rice paper rolls, who act as MCs for the show. There are UV-painted puppets made by a puppet maker in Perth and another of the puppets is a set of four singing, coloured pencils with one trigger mechanism that opens all four mouths.

There were tonnes of artists from all over Australia involved in bringing this production to life. 

Preparation for the show also involved rehearsals at Logan Entertainment Centre to hone sound and lighting cues as well as rehearsals at Toorbul. Brett and Elissa also recruited an assistant who’s worked on Brisbane Arts Theatre productions of Avenue Q.

“It is our biggest production yet and a lot of hard work has gone into it,” Brett said. 

While the creative development process for this puppet show is similar to that of any theatre production and certainly their engagement of world-class artists in creating puppets and sets demonstrates their commitment to the sector, Brett and Elissa are vocal about the dismissal of puppetry by the wider theatre and arts communities.

“It most commonly comes from those who haven't actually sat down and experienced a live puppet show while surrounded by hundreds of children and families laughing, watching with wide-eyed wonder, and enjoying themselves,” Brett said. 

“The most common style of puppetry performed in Australian theatres,” Elissa added, “is Bunraku-style puppetry where the puppeteers are visible on stage as opposed to Muppet-style hand puppetry where puppeteers are hidden. 

“We understand the appeal – it’s actually extremely difficult to perform hidden puppetry on a theatre stage and make it look good. However, after 10 years in business, we see how enamoured children are with experiencing hand puppets live and meeting them in real life.”

“The fact that puppetry can be a powerful form of theatre with characters just as capable of striking a chord with audiences as live actors, with thought-provoking themes that can inspire discussion, is something that is not always considered,” Brett said. 

Elissa added that puppetry performed for children is sometimes looked down upon by those who revere puppetry performed for adults. 

“The perception by some in the performing arts industry is that an audience of children don’t know the difference between quality puppetry and amateur puppetry and therefore believe the practitioners need or have less talent,” she said. 

“In fact, in 10 years of performing for children, we have learnt what does and doesn’t work, and are well aware that children are an important, valued audience who deserve to be respected and deserve quality theatre as much as adults do.”
 
Larrikin Puppets are hoping to tour the show regionally once it premieres in Logan. The book’s co-authors and illustrator Serena Geddes will also attend the premiere. 
Thanks to Logan City Council, Hijabi Girl will premiere at Kingston Butter Factory’s new Butterbox Theatre, 10.30am on 23 and 24 August. Tickets are just $10. More at: loganarts.com.au.