Season cancelled after theatre abruptly condemned

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s Fremantle theatre has been condemned without warning, disrupting the company’s season, revenue and other activities.

The shock condemnation of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s Fremantle auditorium by WA’s Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries – apparently without notice – has forced the company to cancel all upcoming productions in its 2022 season.

Two productions – The Secret Garden (based on the popular book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and for which rehearsals were about to start) and the subsequent summer season of Hare Brain – have been impacted.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts