Peter Scriven MBE 1930-1998

Heading

In 1956 Peter Scriven unveiled the first of his warmly remembered Tintookies shows. The Tintookies, he claimed, were ‘the little people who live in the sandhills’. They were celebrated in an extravagantly mounted musical comedy enacted by a cast of appealing large-scale marionettes. The original Tintookies show, with music by Kurt Herweg and book and lyrics by Hal Saunders, premiered at the Elizabethan Theatre in Newtown on 12 June 1956. It was presented by Scriven’s own company in association with the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust’s recently formed Australian Opera Company (the future Opera Australia). The Trust’s general manager, John Sumner, acted as production advisor, though the Polish puppet master Igor Hyczka devised the portable stage with its lofty bridge for the team of manipulators.

The Tintookies revolutionised Australian puppetry: it was a full-length production on a scale grand enough to be at home in a large theatre, yet it could travel easily; it employed a team of seven manipulators plus assorted support staff; it was performed to a soundtrack recorded by a full orchestra, chorus and leading singers and actors; its story and characters were unashamedly Australian; and though it was designed to appeal to youngsters, their mums and dads enjoyed it too.

In October 1957 Scriven’s company presented a new ‘live action’ Australian musical, Nex’ Town, at the Independent in North Sydney. It was written by Kyie Tennant and Maurice Travers with music by Iris Mason and Hal Saunders. Betty Pounder choreographed and champion boxer Tommy Burns staged the fight scene.

Meanwhile The Tintookies travelled widely. Scriven recycled some of the characters for his next production, Little Fella Bindi, which depicted an Aboriginal boy’s friendship with bush animals. It premiered at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Brisbane in 1958 and became Scriven’s personal favourite. His version of Norman Lindsay’s beloved children’s story The Magic Pudding followed in 1960.

In 1963 Scriven created and manipulated the wily Sebastian, a marionette in an otherwise adult world, for Sebastian the Fox, a series of 12 children’s films directed by Tim Burstall for ABC Television. George Dreyfus provided the memorable music. After that Scriven went overseas for further study.