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Duo get lifetime recognition for puppetry

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Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones met 36 years ago at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, years later the pair went on to start an extraordinary company known as the Handspring Puppet Company.

These two creative minds used puppets to tell the stories of their native South Africa. It is their work on producing and directing the famous life-sized horses created for War Horse, which is set during World War 1 that earned them international acclaim and soon there awards came flooding in.

Handspring Puppet Company has been awarded an ACT Lifetime Achievement Award and Kohler says they are thrilled.

“This means that our profession has been recognised as a relevant art form. When we began in 1981, we were just a small children theatre company and the idea of Puppet theatre was something a bit puzzling to many people. However, it has grown over the years and internationally it is getting bigger, this award seems to be recognition and puppetry is a big word now.”

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