Theatre: I See Red (★★★½)

WAAPA  3rd Year Performance Making Students
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre
May 19, 20, 2016

There wasn’t a string to be seen on stage, but in the hands of fourteen graduating year students from WAAPA’s Performance Making course, guided by Spare Parts artistic director Phillip Mitchell, there was no doubt what you were watching.
It’s testament to the reach and variety of modern puppetry that WAAPA, always conscious of the career prospects of its students, has introduced puppetry into its syllabus; after all, if you want work in The Lion King or Warhorse…
The nine short, devised pieces all reference Little Red Riding Hood (although the show is all grown up in tone and content), and it’s an inspired piece of curation.
The passing of Spare Parts’ beloved master puppeteer and State Living Treasure Noriko Nishimoto this week has saddened the whole WA arts community, but nothing could blunt the excitement of the student performers and their supporters in the foyer after the show. 

That’s exactly how Nishimoto, a committed educator throughout her long career, would have wanted it. Because, to quote Dylan Thomas: “Though lovers be lost love shall not”. 

Read the complete review in The West Australian