About

Charlotte Bunt and Sean Meany are the creators of Toybox, a string puppet theatre which has toured schools and festivals in the Canberra region. Joan Holt-Vance, a well known local painter sadly missed having passed away in 2005, created the landscape backdrops for the plays.

The duo are responsible for every facet of production and are at this stage the sole performers and completely self-funded. Besides their imaginative and some say 50's style stage mechanics and handcrafted marionnettes, the duo are noted for their original music and ability to relate well to a diverse audience. Although, the shows are aimed at young children, adults remain just as transported by the power and magic of the puppet's ability to 'suspend one's disbelief'.

Puppetry within the context of dramatic play often breaks down audience barriers, such as preconceived notions of theatre as inaccessible or elitist 'garble' for adults or as something expected only to be seen at the movies by children, helping to encourage a theatre going public in the future.

Toybox endeavours to encourage the child's imagination, thought and concentration, culminating in a shared group experience. In other words, to have fun participating in a theatrical event which is a learning and uplifting experience for puppeteers and audience alike.

Just as the traditional fairy tale, read or told countless times over, has continued to inspire children all over the world, so the use of the traditional marionnette has been chosen to best express and reflect the unity of form these wonderful stories contain.

Toybox started touring schools in 1995 with a Russian tale "Shedlov The Loafer" playing to Primary school and University students, but it was a musical version of "The Three Little Pigs" (a small stage set up suitable for pre-schools and classroom audiences) that had everyone talking about Toybox Puppet Theatre. While both performances played at the Floriade festival and made a big impact on local and interstate visitors, the latter pre-school show went on to play to over 400 institutions around the Canberra region: homes for the elderly; children with special needs; public and private schools both primary and pre-school, as well as childcare centres. A detailed performance feedback form was filled out by all teaching professionals and 95% of them rated the show as excellent, the other 5% as good and 0% as average or poor.

In 1998, a residence was secured at a disused scout hall in Narrabundah and Charlotte and Sean planned to stage their first major public performance of "Three Billy Goats Gruff" on a purpose built stage for marionnettes which was painstakingly completed many months later. They also ran their first puppet workshop for children, culminating in an evening performance, which proved enormously popular. However, for a long time the hall had been targeted by vandals and late that year the ACT government made the decision to have it demolished. Regardless of media attention and public support , Toybox had exhausted all possibilities for relocation and with no funds remaining the theatre closed down. Now, they are committed to restarting the theatre and have recently found premises in Pialligo for children's craft workshops and small shows which will go a long way towards funding the theatre!