Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods has many memorable characters but one in particular stands out, even though that character has never uttered a witty line nor sung a song.
Milky White, the ‘cow as white as milk’ has been a crowd favourite throughout the 36 year history of Into the Woods.
Originally constructed as a static piece, which was wheeled on and off stage as required, Milky White has been brought to life in many ways over the years with everything from low budget to high tech versions.
This left the team behind Rockhampton Regional Council’s production of Into The Woods with an interesting quandary.
Producer John Webb and Director Joy Philippi were adamant that Rockhampton’s Milky White would nether be the roll-on-roll-off model nor two people in an acrylic cow costume.
They turned to Dead Puppet Society, a Brisbane based production house and design company with international reach, to come up with a solution.
“In previous productions of Into The Woods, audiences have really taken to Milky White,” Joy said.
“We wanted to make sure that when we gave life to this character, it was done with humour and affection, and puppetry was a great way to do this,” she said.
Dead Puppet Society’s Helen Stephens is conducting workshops with members of the Into the Woods team this week, not only to give local performers the skills to perform with puppets, but to actually create the puppets you see on stage.
Along with Milky White, Cinderella’s blackbird puppets are also being created locally under the guidance of Dead Puppet Society.
The puppets will be brought to life on stage by a group of local performers.
Dead Puppet Society is known throughout the world for creating deeply imaginative visual theatre works wrought with spectacle and wonder. Their stage productions have been box office hits, with the company nominated for six Helpmann Awards and an Olivier Award.
The company continually push the boundaries of innovations in design-led theatre, combining timeless craftsmanship with cutting edge technology, to produce visually compelling experiences, unique training and professional development for young people and artists.
Into The Woods will be performed at the Pilbeam Theatre for five shows from 17-25 March. Tickets are now on sale from www.seeitlive.com.au and the Pilbeam Theatre Box Office on 4927 4111.
Into the Woods is a Rockhampton Regional Council production, sponsored by the Friends of the Theatre, and CQ Today.
