Spare Parts Puppet Theatre

The building was constructed as a commercial building in 1921. It is a two-storey limestone building with a corrugated iron roof, constructed in the Federation Free Classical style of architecture. The building was used as the State Shipping Service Office. In 1975 it was vested in the City of Fremantle and in September 1978 it was officially opened as the Fremantle Art Gallery.[1] In 1988 it was refurbished to specifically accommodate the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.

The building is listed on the City of Fremantle's Municipal Heritage List.[2]

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre was founded by Peter Wilson,[3] Cathryn Robinson and Beverley Campbell-Jackson in 1981,[4] as part of an artist-in-residency program initiated by the WA Institute of Technology (now Curtin University of Technology). The company's first project was a puppet adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus for the 1981 Festival of Perth.[4] For the first seven years, the company was a touring company, but in 1998 it acquired the Fremantle Art Gallery as a permanent home.[4] From 1997 through to 2001, the company was under the artistic direction of Noriko Nishimoto.[4] In 2001 Philip Mitchell was appointed the company's new artistic director.

In April 2008 the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre hosted the 20th UNIMA (Union Internationals de la Marlonette) World Puppetry Festival and Congress.

In a 2022 collaboration with The Doge NFT,[5] Spare Parts Puppet Theatre produced Australia's first NFT collection[6] for a theatre company.[7] They also built a Doge puppet, which now has its own TikTok.[8]

The NFT collection was photographed by Louise Coghill.[9][10]

• Webb, Laurie (February 1999). "Collection of Six Articles on Puppetry and Puppet Companies in Australia". Lowdown. 21 (1): 3–5, 8–9, 12–18. ISSN 0158-099X.
• "Spare Parts Puppet Theatre : Programs and Related Material collected by the National Library of Australia". National Library of Australia. 1999. Retrieved 28 December 2011.