ALVIN SPUTNIK: DEEP SEA EXPLORER
A multi-award-winning one-man micro-epic puppet show that melds technology and multimedia into a touching story of enduring love and the end of the world.
The seas have risen, billions have died and those who are left live on farms atop skyscrapers and mountains. Scientists have tried everything. Floating islands sank, space probes found nothing, and the giant sponges, visible from the moon, are now rotting icons of failure.
A last-ditch effort to save the human race requires journeying down through the mysterious depths of the deep blue sea to find a new place for us to live. Alvin Sputnik, who has just lost his wife, accepts this perilous mission so that he may to follow her soul down to the underworld to be together once more.
‘It is a story about love, loss and heroism in a post-eco apocalyptic world’ – Tim Watts, 2013
Writer/Performer: Tim Watts
Gadgets: Tony Watts
Duration: 45 mins (no interval)
Age Recommendation: Ages 10+
Email georgia@thelastgreathunt.com to enquire about this show for tour.
For touring inquiries for North or South America contact Laura Colby laurac@elsieman.org
Alvin Sputnik...an endearing Australian solo show told in stick-figure animation and puppetry...akin to a theatrical “Wall-E” - The New York Times
An ingenious and beguiling blend of live action, puppetry, animation, music and film to tell a story of love, loss and quiet heroism - The Guardian, UK
Absorbing, touching and uplifting - The Australian
The many transitions between animation and live action are beautifully handled, and the story - which is told in images rather than words - is an uncommonly touching one - Sydney Morning Herald
The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer is a delectable morsel of by pure theatrical magic - NZ Herald
The way in which Watts executes his puppetry is original and engrossing… there is such humanity and life in Alvin that you will be rooting for him all the way in his aquatic journey - Broadway Baby
Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer premiered at The Blue Room Theatre, Boorloo/Perth in 2009.
For the full list of everywhere this show has toured (spoiler: heaps of places) please scroll down below the photo gallery.
2009 New York Fringe Festival, USA
2010 APAM, South Australia
2010 Adelaide Fringe Festival
2010 Darwin Festival, Northern Territory
2010 New Delhi International Arts Festival, India
2011 Sydney Festival, New South Wales
2011 Auckland Fringe Festival, New Zealand
2011 Australian National Tour, Australia
2011 South Korean Tour (Seoul, Busan, Geoji Island), Korea
2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, United Kingdom
2011 Bristol Puppetry Festival, United Kingdom
2011 Dublin Fringe Festival, Ireland
2011 Tauranga Festival, New Zealand
2011 Perth Season, Western Australia
2011 The Edge, New Zealand
2011 Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong
2012 Taiwan International Arts Festival, China
2012 Southern Arts Festival and Taupo Erupt Festival, New Zealand
2012 Enlighten Festival Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
2012 Shizuoka Festival, Japan
2012 Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival, United Kingdom
2012 Denmark - hosted by Teater Katapult at Godsbanen in Aarhus.
2012 Regional UK Tour, United Kingdom
2012 Nelson Festival, New Zealand
2012 Ziguzjag Festival, Malta
2013 IPAY Showcase Philadelphia, USA
2013 USA Tour: NYC; Atlanta; Philadelphia; Cleveland Tour, USA
2013 Quito Pichincha Tearo Nacional Sucre, Ecuador
2013 Act 3 International, Singapore
2013 Japan
2013 The Arts Centre in Melbourne, Victoria
2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival Return Season, United Kingdom
2013 USA Tour: Utah; Washington; California; North Carolina, USA
2013 Norway
2014 USA Tour: Manitoba; Canada; Utah; New York; New Jersey; Virginia, USA
2014 USA Tour: Austin; Chicago; Fayetteville, USA
2014 Imaginate Festival and Commonwealth Games, United Kingdom
2014 Titirijai Festival, Tolosa, Spain
2015 USA Tour: PuSh Festival; Vancouver Children’s Festival; Centre in the Square; Kitchener; Purdue University; Modlin University; Quick Centre for the Arts, USA
2015 Izmir International Puppet Days, Turkey
2015 Perth Metropolitan Schools Tour, Western Australia
2015 Fil Festival Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2016 Adelaide Fringe Festival - Royal Croquet Club, South Australia
2016 USA and Canada Your: San Antonio; Ottawa Children’s Festival; Canada
2016 Australian National Tour, Queensland, NSW, Victoria
2016 Biennial Festival of Contemporary Puppetry Art LUTKE, Slovenia,
2016 Synergura Festival, Theatre Waidspeicher, Germany
2017 Marion Cultural Centre, Adelaide, South Australia
2017 George Town Festival, Malaysia
2017 Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Vertigo Theatre, Calgary, Canada
2017 Brigham Young University, Utah, USA
2017 Aichi Arts Foundation, Japan tour: Nagoya, Handa, Toyokawa, Chiryu, Inazawa, Yokohama, Japan.
2018 Spot On Festival, Riverside Theatre, Parramatta, New South Wales
2018 Hothouse Theatre, Albury–Wodonga
2019 Lincoln Centre NYC, Lacid Placid Center for the Arts, NY, University of Georgia, GA, USA
2019 Children’s Reading Festival, UAE
2019 10th Birthday Season, Awesome Festival 2019 & The Blue Room Theatre, Boorloo/Perth Western Australia
2023 Canberra Theatre Centre Studio, Canberra, ACT
2023 Wanaka Festival of Colour, Hawea Flat hall, Wanaka, New Zealand