Patch Theatre Company
Encyclopedia
In its 37 year history, Patch Theatre Company has produced 100 new works and performed to 1.45 million children and their families nationally and internationally.
In recent years, Patch has developed and refined a repertoire of 8 acclaimed productions, each featuring the company’s trademark elegance, simplicity and theatrical invention. This stylish collection of engaging theatre
for 4-8 year olds and their families has earned national and international acclaim.
Over the last five years, Patch has performed at fourteen international children's festivals in Korea
, Japan
, Singapore
, USA
, New Zealand
and Canada
and been featured regularly at the Sydney Opera House
and Victorian Arts Centre. In 2008, the company’s work was presented in New York
at the prestigious New Victory Theatre
on 42nd Street.
The company has presented six consecutive national Playing Australia tours in six years. In 2008 Patch were the proud recipients of the APACA Touring Legends Award and in 2009 received two Drovers: Outstanding Touring Production Crew and in conjunction with Country Arts SA Tour of the Year.
The last 12 months have been an award winning time for Patch with Drover Awards, an IAF Innovation Award at the Adelaide Critic Circle Awards, an Advertiser Newspaper Oscarts Award, a Ruby Award for Sustained Contribution and to top it off a national Helpmann Award
for Best Presentation for Children.
The Patch Theatre objective? Simple, yet wondrous theatre experiences that are deeply rendered at a child's level of comprehension and perspective. Elegant Simplicity!
who had worked extensively with children during her career. Morna established Little Patch Theatre in an old farmhouse in High Street, Brighton
and its theatrical mainstay was puppetry
. Over the years, the company's name changed from New Patch Theatre to Patch Theatre Company.
In 1977 Patch became a general grant company of the Australia Council
. Later, the company received regular assistance from the State Government through the Youth Performing Arts Council.
Following the appointment of Christine Anketell in 1986, Patch's repertoire diversified and its audience base was extended. During her seven years as Artistic Director, Christine developed a relationship with the Adelaide Festival Trust, which saw the realisation of large-scale adaptations of children's literature
. Highlights included Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge, The Secret Garden
and Gillian Rubinstein
's Space Demons
.
Dave Brown joined the company in 1992 and he continued to foster the Adelaide Festival Centre
relationship with a co-production of Victor Kelleher's The Red King in 1993.
In 1994, Patch moved from its base in the Community Centre in Tarlton Street, Somerton Park
, to become a part of the Pasadena High School
campus. Further co-productions with the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust continued with Gillian Rubinstien's Galax Arena and Each Beach in 1995 and 1997 respectively and the innovative Tripple J collaboration, Respectable Shoes in 1996.
Dave's work reflected his strong interest in exploring new conventions for the use of music in theatre with Respectable Shoes and the Beatlesque pop-opera Kookookachoo. He also explored the sharing of culture through theatre with the Indigenous Australian works Rak Awin and Tjijiku Inma followed by the Vietnamese Australian
work - The Boy and the Bamboo Flute - which was performed by the company until 2006.
From 1998 to 200, Patch returned to the puppetry roots of its early years led by Artistic Director, Ken Evans. The Adelaide Festival Centre Trust and Come Out '99 presented Ken Evans' and Jonathan Taylor
's Visible Darkness
, a collision of Film Noir, contemporary dance, puppetry and illusion.
In 2000, Patch underwent a reinvention when Dave Brown returned to the Company and set about developing a repertoire of in-theatre productions exclusively for 4-8 year olds and their families.
Dave adapted eight stories by celebrated children's author, Pamela Allen
, producing Who Sank the Boat? a magical work that set the scene for the emergence of Patch Theatre as one of Australia's most respected children's theatre companies.
Patch Theatre Company is funded by the Government of South Australia
through Arts SA
and the South Australian Youth Arts Board and by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, Its arts funding and advisory body.
In recent years, Patch has developed and refined a repertoire of 8 acclaimed productions, each featuring the company’s trademark elegance, simplicity and theatrical invention. This stylish collection of engaging theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
for 4-8 year olds and their families has earned national and international acclaim.
Over the last five years, Patch has performed at fourteen international children's festivals in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and been featured regularly at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
and Victorian Arts Centre. In 2008, the company’s work was presented in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at the prestigious New Victory Theatre
New Victory Theatre
The New Victory Theater is an Off-Broadway theater located at 209 West 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, in Midtown Manhattan. The New Victory is New York's first and only theater for children and family audiences...
on 42nd Street.
The company has presented six consecutive national Playing Australia tours in six years. In 2008 Patch were the proud recipients of the APACA Touring Legends Award and in 2009 received two Drovers: Outstanding Touring Production Crew and in conjunction with Country Arts SA Tour of the Year.
The last 12 months have been an award winning time for Patch with Drover Awards, an IAF Innovation Award at the Adelaide Critic Circle Awards, an Advertiser Newspaper Oscarts Award, a Ruby Award for Sustained Contribution and to top it off a national Helpmann Award
Helpmann Award
The Helpmann Awards recognize distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in Australia's live performing arts sectors. The recognized disciplines include musical and physical theatre, contemporary and classical music, opera, and dance, with a comedy category introduced in 2006...
for Best Presentation for Children.
The Patch Theatre objective? Simple, yet wondrous theatre experiences that are deeply rendered at a child's level of comprehension and perspective. Elegant Simplicity!
History
Patch Theatre Company was founded in 1972 by Morna Jones, a performer and television producerTelevision producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
who had worked extensively with children during her career. Morna established Little Patch Theatre in an old farmhouse in High Street, Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
and its theatrical mainstay was puppetry
Puppetry
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects...
. Over the years, the company's name changed from New Patch Theatre to Patch Theatre Company.
In 1977 Patch became a general grant company of the Australia Council
Australia Council
The Australia Council, informally known as the Australia Council for the Arts, is the official arts council or arts funding body of the Government of Australia.-Function:...
. Later, the company received regular assistance from the State Government through the Youth Performing Arts Council.
Following the appointment of Christine Anketell in 1986, Patch's repertoire diversified and its audience base was extended. During her seven years as Artistic Director, Christine developed a relationship with the Adelaide Festival Trust, which saw the realisation of large-scale adaptations of children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
. Highlights included Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge, The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...
and Gillian Rubinstein
Gillian Rubinstein
Gillian Rubinstein is an English-born children's author and playwright. Born in Potten End, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, Rubinstein split her childhood between England and Nigeria, moving to Australia in 1973. As well as eight plays, numerous short stories and articles, she has written...
's Space Demons
Space Demons
Space Demons is a book by Australian author Gillian Rubinstein. First released in 1985, the young adult science fiction novel is the first of the 'Space Demons' trilogy. The book was awarded the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers in 1987...
.
Dave Brown joined the company in 1992 and he continued to foster the Adelaide Festival Centre
Adelaide Festival Centre
The Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre, was built in 1973 and opened three months before the Sydney Opera House. The Festival Centre is located approximately 50 metres north of the corner of North Terrace and King William Street, lying near the banks of the River...
relationship with a co-production of Victor Kelleher's The Red King in 1993.
In 1994, Patch moved from its base in the Community Centre in Tarlton Street, Somerton Park
Somerton Park
Somerton Park was a football, greyhound and speedway stadium in Newport, Monmouthshire. In April 1912 Newport County had been accepted to play in the Southern League for the 1912–13 season. Shortly afterwards, the site for the ground was obtained by the Club's chairman Bert Moss...
, to become a part of the Pasadena High School
Pasadena High School, South Australia
Pasadena High School is a secondary school located in the southern Adelaide suburb of Pasadena, on the corner of Goodwood and Daws Roads. It was opened in 1964 as Daws Road High School and operated under this name until 2001....
campus. Further co-productions with the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust continued with Gillian Rubinstien's Galax Arena and Each Beach in 1995 and 1997 respectively and the innovative Tripple J collaboration, Respectable Shoes in 1996.
Dave's work reflected his strong interest in exploring new conventions for the use of music in theatre with Respectable Shoes and the Beatlesque pop-opera Kookookachoo. He also explored the sharing of culture through theatre with the Indigenous Australian works Rak Awin and Tjijiku Inma followed by the Vietnamese Australian
Vietnamese Australian
A Vietnamese Australian is an Australian either born in Vietnam or is an Australian descendant of the former. Communities of Overseas Vietnamese are referred to as Việt Kiều or người Việt hải ngoại.-History in Australia:...
work - The Boy and the Bamboo Flute - which was performed by the company until 2006.
From 1998 to 200, Patch returned to the puppetry roots of its early years led by Artistic Director, Ken Evans. The Adelaide Festival Centre Trust and Come Out '99 presented Ken Evans' and Jonathan Taylor
Jonathan Taylor
Jonathan F Taylor CBE is the former Chair of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Board of Governors, Chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation, the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and Chair of the Trustees of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction.-References:...
's Visible Darkness
Visible Darkness
Visible Darkness is a 1959 Russian fiction story, and later book, by Dmitri Bilenkin about a person who could see in Infra-red light....
, a collision of Film Noir, contemporary dance, puppetry and illusion.
In 2000, Patch underwent a reinvention when Dave Brown returned to the Company and set about developing a repertoire of in-theatre productions exclusively for 4-8 year olds and their families.
Dave adapted eight stories by celebrated children's author, Pamela Allen
Pamela Allen
Pamela Allen, born in April 1934, in Devonport, New Zealand is a children's writer and illustrator. She has published over 30 picture books since 1980, when she moved to Australia. Eight of her books have been adapted for the stage by The Patch Theatre Company and performed at the Sydney Opera House...
, producing Who Sank the Boat? a magical work that set the scene for the emergence of Patch Theatre as one of Australia's most respected children's theatre companies.
Patch Theatre Company is funded by the Government of South Australia
Government of South Australia
The form of the Government of South Australia is prescribed in its constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...
through Arts SA
Arts SA
Arts SA is the South Australian Government Department responsible for the arts. The Minister for The Arts is the Premier Mike Rann, the Chief Executive is Greg Mackie.Statutory Authorities reporting to the Department include:...
and the South Australian Youth Arts Board and by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, Its arts funding and advisory body.