Laser Beak Man
Part puppet show, part pop concert, and all heart!
Exploding with the offbeat humour and wit of award-winning artist Tim Sharp, enter the hyper coloured world of Laser Beak Man.
Jam-packed with a kaleidoscopic cast of characters, this ingenious adaptation is coming to Melbourne. See the cult-classic artwork come to life with full-stage animations and over 35 original puppets by Dead Puppet Society. Featuring an infectious live soundtrack by Ball Park Music’s Sam Cromack.
Power City is the most beautiful city in the world, clean, pure and perfect; but not by accident. Local hero Laser Beak Man works hard to keep it that way. Drawing energy from the underground Magna Crystals that power the City, his beak has the ability to shoot lasers that turn bad to good. That is until Peter Bartman, evil genius and Laser Beak Man’s estranged childhood friend, steals the Magna Crystals, robbing our colourful superhero of his powers.
Can Laser Beak Man stop his oldest nemesis from destroying the city? Find out when this Helpmann award nominated production bursts onto the stage this September.
Note: RRP is for four tickets. You may select up to four tickets when you make your reservation.
Feedback/Comments
Really enjoyed it!
Such a touching show
Great puppetry an excellent rock band and a funny storyline made for a really entertaining show and a great night out
Wonderful show at an amazing venue!
Not bad , the puppeteers could have dressed in black as they were a distraction
All 3 kids scored Laser Beak Man (the show) a 10/10.... a credit to Tim, the master puppeteers of the Dead Puppet Society and Sam Cromack (Ball Park music) on an amazing storyline, eye catching graphics, wonderful music and just overall a superb and visually stimulating performance.
A great show, with something for everyone and some really innovative ideas. A school holidays must see.
Laser Beak Man is a delightful and engaging show, even for unaccompanied adults. In the first few minutes I had some misgivings - had I brought my friends to something that was really just for kids? By the end of the show we were laughing out loud with everyone else.
There were quite a few children at the evening performance, and some were a little unsettled before the lights went down, but from the moment the performance began, they were totally absorbed - they laughed, they gasped, and there was one yell at a character to help them along the way.
Adults, be prepared for a full-on sensory experience - light, colour, sound - good music, some groan-worthy puns, and to be way more engaged with the story and characters than you might have expected
Great family show. Kids loved it. Puppeteers were brilliant, found myself watching their animation more than the puppets! Congrats on a wonderful show.
More for the kids but enough for adults too. Live band was excellent.
Great show
A talented array of entertainment to please all ages. The puppetry was fascinating; the backdrops spectacular, the music accompaniment melodious, the sign language interpreters entertaining .
It was a total delight. We thoroughly enjoyed the show.
Very creative
There is a lot to this production which requires thoughtful review. Visually the staging and its use of computer aided LED visuals and video brings to life the productions wonderful colourful cartoon artwork. The meshing together of the on stage action, the lighting, video and live music was innovative and engaged the audience with movement and colour in a really fresh way. The live band, its music and vocals were clear and in partnership with what was happening on stage and storyline and really very good, albeit mostly moody. .. The puppets (at mostly a small 3-4 foot in size) were fun, detailed and obviously the work of a project of love.The overall stage size was quite small (possibly limited by the expense of the computer aided visuals and need to travel with the set). The small staging was offset by the sheer brilliance of the LED output.
So as I sat down and started to watch the show everything was set up for my inner child to lose myself in a promise of something really special. And visually and musically that was mostly the case... But.. There was a problem about the puppets and their actions getting lost due to their small size and detail in the movements of those operating them. For me the small puppets were simply overwhelmed by the obviousness of their operators. Also, the syncing of puppets voice to their action and sound system made it difficult to believe the projection of each puppets "voice" and character. Having complex small puppets surrounded by giants making complex movements killed any ability to suspend disbelief. There are many points in the production where I simply lost track of what was happening and being said because of this surrounding production noise and failure to achieve the puppets believable vocal projection.
These are technical things which could be fixed.
My main issue with the production is not that it has obviously received substantial government funding (I am happy that innovative worthy work gets this). It is the productions plot and script. The plot is that Power City and its corrupt mayor has kept a magic power source away from the world for itself and surrounded itself with a wall and gates to keep the undesirables out (as represented by the true hero of the story, the androgynous black sheep). Laserbeak man is a mute who uses this stolen energy to give himself his special powers, thus keeping the walled off city safe in their privaledged lifestyle. The baddie of the piece is a mad male scientist who wants to steal the magic power source for his own superpowers.
In other words the real story is about getting social justice done by tearing down the walls, opening the gates, and allowing everyone from outside in to share the wealth which we have stolen from the rest of the world. Laserbeak is just a castrated sexless mute who's lesson of his reliance on an external magic power other than his own innate strength is used to prop the asexual black sheep's sacrifice against the evil man's plans in order to save all of the people (because of course the black sheep comes from outside of the city, from the literally unseen). You don't have to have much in the way of IQ to understand that the stolen power is male patriarchy and white patriarchy at that - versus the black sheep. The only powerful valid voices in the production are female and the epitamy of evil is of course a man.
This show is designed for young children. It's plot is low grade cultural Marxist propoganda and overtly fashionably political. I do not have wait for the use of "mansplaining" or other key cues in the script to recognise this.
In a world where there is so much genuinely indisputable evil, it is a shame that so much effort has been spent presenting a partisan political view; a view which is not factual and which requires honest debate. What is outrageous and unsupportable is that in this case it is being directed at children. This is partisan political propaganda. It is the political equivalent of making children watch visually engaging soft political pornography - get them while they are young... And it is a shame if those involved in it for the love of their art do not recognise how they are being so used.
Brilliant
Very clever and most entertaining for adults and kids! Love it!! Great live band, added so much to the emotion of the performance. My 12 year old totally enjoyed it. Highly recommended.
Very entertaining
Had a great time. Loved the puppets, animation, music and the show's sense of humor and fun.
We were 3 adults and 4 kids (with 3 tickets through On The House and 4 paid full price). Evrybody rated the show 4, 4.5 and 5 stars. 12 year old said it was brilliant! The end is so awesome and happy! Loved it! Tim Sharp was outside greeting spectators, which was extra special. Go and see it if you can.
Great puppetry, live band complimented the performance . Terrific show for the primary aged kids. Very entertaining and corney at times which made the show