It all began with house swaps with Australians: the last swapper
in our trip was another artist and asked if we were interested in adding
a month to our holiday to work as artists in residence at a hotel in Port
Douglas. We agreed and decided that our show would be partly paintings
and drawings but mainly Toy Theatres, jumping jacks etc. I finally flew
out there with 11 of my 20 kilos in paper masters, to print off there,
and basic art kit - for 4 1/2 months!
The hotel was Radison's Treetops Hotel in Port Douglas in far north Queensland; a fabulous resort amid rainforest jungle. Amazingly our work area was really only roof and floor with neither walls, windows or doors between us and the world outside. This had its problems at times but fortunately we finished before the expected cyclone (tornado) arrived! I should mention the temperatures were in the mid 30's with 80+% humidity.
I took nine of my own plays, five 19th century plays I've restored, seven theatres and eight jumping jacks of Harlequinade, Punch and Judy and two specials, "Ned Kelly" and "The Jolly Swagman". The month before we took up residence, Jane and I spent painting & building theatres, sets, plays and displays in a climate where even cutting out cardboard made perspiration pour off one to drip everywhere. In all this humidity we struggled with problems of warping, cardboard falling apart, things constantly coming unstuck etc.
The deal was to work about 8-9 hours a day in the morning and evening with afternoons and Mondays off, in return for A* accommodation, lunch and dinner in the staff canteen and sumptuous breakfast with the guests. A special bonus factor was the fantastic friendliness of all the staff who really made our luxury stay even better.
The main commission was to 'add another dimension' to peoples' holidays and this involved all kinds of activities - watching us, talking with us, looking at the work & performing with us. My special toy theatre version of 'Waltzing Matilda' had its world premiere in this way. Naturally; there would be sales but this was considered a subsidiary element.
It was good to talk with so many people from all over the world about English Toy Theatre etc. but wonderful, on several occasions, when old folk came, starry-eyed with recollections of 'having one when I was a boy'!
The snags with all this were several. We had not anticipated that so
many guests had paid for everything before they left home and didn't really
want, or have, money to buy art or toy theatres. We had deliberately pitched
prices low so we did sell lots of small items like jumping jacks. We had
not anticipated the humidity problems. We had, of course, realised we had
to 'pack it in' and 'pack it out' and much of what we'd built and not sold
we ended up giving to friends and the local church. That said, it was all
appreciated and has set up a little corner of Australia where they now
know about Toy Theatre.
I'm now awaiting a parcel of reference/collected to begin new plays
- "Ned Kelly", "The Eureka Stockade" and suchlike, and a theatre front
based on the 19th century proscenium at Ballarat.
If anyone is interested in following our example, please do write to me for further information and an introduction contact:.