The DPS Lab(AUS)

Featuring original works by some of Brisbane’s hottest performance makers, THE DPS LAB is a one-night only theatrical event. Showcasing three new visual theatre works by Dead Puppet Society’s Academy artists, this year’s bill features works by Margi Brown Ash, Annabel Gilbert & Grace Longwill & Sarah Esser and Charles Ball.

With fresh vibes and beats at The Princess Theatre’s outdoor bar and behind the scenes tours of Dead Puppet Society’s Fabrication Workshop before and after the show, don’t miss this sizzling smorgasbord of unexpected and experimental theatre.

About the works

Homegrown by LOOSE TOOTH THEATRE

Tash and Sophie’s nursery remains vacant but their combined guilt and grief propagates something else; an unidentifiable plant that christens Sophie the attentive caregiver, and Tash, the unsuspecting carrier. The plant grows, while everything else stands still. 

Created by Sarah Esser, Grace Longwill and Annabel Gilbert, Homegrown examines the pressures of heteronormativity and 'the nuclear family' on queer households through puppetry and stark, horror-inspired visuals.

Beneath the Smile of Sisyphus by Charles Ball

We are expected to smile beneath the weight of our burdens—yet something stirs deeper. Society demands obedience, but beneath the mask of civility, darker forces begin to press back. When the primal won’t stay buried, we discover that some things are heavier than the boulders we push.

Created by Charles Ball, Beneath the Smile of Sisyphus explores the tensions that arise when animal instinct collides with the absurdity of modern life. Through visceral dance-theatre, mythic imagery and raw physicality expose the quiet violence of conformity—and ask: is the struggle noble, or merely polite?

Mrs Weaver and the Hare by Margi Brown Ash, Leah Mercer & Genevieve Trace

Mrs Weaver and the Hare is a fable of twilight moments—where endings meet beginnings, words become actions that turn into history, and the legacy of what we leave behind demands one final act of courage.

In this work in progress showing, the audience will be guided through the artists’ process in developing the early text and the form supporting the work as it journeys through the realms of reality, fairy-tale and myth. The showing will present four performative vignettes experimenting with text, puppetry, illustration and live music.