The Big Game is a gigantic, fun interactive performance and play space for families.

The Big Game takes the nature of interactive performance and play into a new realm, enclosing the participants in a gigantic visual, physical environment.  Kids participate as pieces in a huge board game, rolling enormous dice, stepping on game tiles and meeting larger-than-life characters that take them from start to finish. Each player faces an interactive terrain of sculptures, puppets, tasks, hazards and rewards, guided by Game Masters and fuelled by music; they strive to reach the finish first. 


There are two ways to experience The Big Game:
-     As a beautiful and engaging play space: children and adults can play the game with their own dice and their own teams. guided and helped along the way by Gatekeepers. In this form The Big Game is an adventure in which children can totally immerse themselves, making up the rules and their roles as they play.
-    As a performance it becomes a play-off, with children as the tokens and the audience as cheer squad. Live music underscores the action as the story unfolds of the Princess and her bullying father – Volcano King.  The Big Game combines sport and art to invoke the kind of passion and spectator participation rarely seen in the theatre.

 

The Big Game has been made in collaboration with children from the Carlton high rise commission flats, drawing on their interpretations of the collection at the National Gallery of Victoria and on their own stories and cultural influences.

 

The Big Game premiered at the Melbourne International Arts Festival in October 2008 with seasons at the Meat Market and the National Gallery of Victoria. The Big Game then toured to Perth as part of the AWESOME Festival and in May 2009 had its international premiere at the Singapore Arts Festival.

 

The Big Game is suitable for children aged 5 - 12


MEDIA

Interview with director, Sue Giles, on 774 ABC Conversation Hour 23 September 2008 discussing The Big Game

download MP3 - 6MB

Read an interview with General Manager Simon Abrahams which gives an overview of what to expect with The Big Game and how it was created

> view ArtZine interview

Download the official media release with all the dates, times and info you need.

> download media release (PDF - 1MB)


HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS

Download high resolution photographs for printing:

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FUNDING BODIES

The Big Game is supported by Angior Foundation, Besen Family Foundation, City of Melbourne, Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, National Gallery of Victoria, The Ian Potter Foundation and VicHealth.

Reviews

publication: Theatre Notes
publication: The Age

Creative Biographies

Sue Giles

Director

Sue Giles was appointed as Artistic Director of Polyglot Puppet Theatre in August 2000. While at Polyglot she has broadened the company's puppetry performance base to include community participation and creative processes with children. Before Polyglot she was a freelance writer, director and performer.

Read more..

Ania Reynolds

Musician / Composer

Ania is a freelance composer/sound designer and musician who has composed for Polyglot Puppet Theatre Company, Westside Circus, NICA, the Women's Circus and Sweet 'n' Sour Circus. She has also composed for film, and performed her scores with The Silent Box film score project.

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Colin Sneesby

Original performer

Colin Sneesby graduated from the VCA. acting course in 1991 and since then has worked as an actor/ dancer/ puppeteer/director both in Australia and overseas.
Companies he has worked with include Snuff Puppets, Polyglot Puppet Theatre, Terrapin Puppet Theatre, Windmill Performing Arts, Erth, Dance Exchange, Westside Circus, Chambermade Opera and 5 Angry Men.

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Ella Misso

Ella is carving a name for herself in the kneecaps of the Melbourne theatre production scene, using her resourceful ability in costume, construction, props and puppetry. Most recently she has worked with Peepshow Inc on fringe festival show 'Mysterie

Coming soon...

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Geoff Kennedy

Geoff Kennedy

Designer/Community Artist
Throughout his career Geoff has worked in a variety of disciplines including painting, assemblage, murals, sculpture, photography (including continuous multi-projection slide installation), painted and three dimensional installation works, set design and construction, puppet design and fabrication, paving design and the production of pictorial community newsletters.

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Graeme Davis

Puppet Designer / Maker
Graeme Davis has studied Post Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts Sculpture and has a history of activities covering, performance art, exund sculpture, installation work and painting exhibitions. Most recently he has entered the world of puppetry, beginning with a work Deus Ex Machina in Polyglots Ardent Shorts.
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Mandy Field

Artlink Manager

Mandy has worked with all arms and legs of the performing arts process: as a performer, in direction and in arts management, with a focus on physical theatre and outcomes in community and cultural development.

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Rebecca Clark

Costume Designer / Maker

Coming soon...

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Rebecca Rutter

Original Performer

Rebecca Rutter has worked as a performance practitioner for fifteen years. During this time she has worked across varied media and theatrical disciplines encompassing Traditional theatre, Installation Art, Site specific performance, Butoh, Stomping, Circus, Musical Theatre, Film, Comedy, Puppetry and large scale Spectacle Theatre.

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Touring History

Artlink
Victoria
10/10/2008 - 12/10/2008
Melbourne International Arts Festival - Arts House, Meat Market
Artlink
Victoria
26/10/2008 - 26/10/2008
National Gallery of Victoria International - The Great Hall
Artlink
Western Australia
16/11/2008 - 22/11/2008
Awesome Festival, Forest Place, Perth
Artlink
29/05/2009 - 31/05/2009
Singapore Arts Festival
Artlink
South Australia
25/02/2010 - 25/02/2010
Australian Performing Arts Market - Searchlight pitch session (registered delegates only)

On the Road
Victoria
04/04/2010 - 05/04/2010
Bendigo
Generate
Victoria
08/11/2010 - 26/11/2010
Regional Arts Victoria Tour