Bittersweet Ending for Acclaimed Children’s Theatre

Peter Wilson in Duck, Death and the Tulip

NZ puppeteer awarded prestigious international honour as children's theatre company he founded announces decision to close.

The founder of the Little Dog Barking Theatre Company has been internationally honoured for his achievements in puppetry, just as the company announces its sad decision to close.

The late (Lyndon) Peter Wilson has been named a Member of Honour of The Union Internationale de la Marionette (UNIMA), the oldest international theatre organisation in the world. The prestigious honour numbers him among the most respected figures in puppetry history, acknowledging his more than fifty years as a puppeteer and co-founder of four theatre companies, including Little Dog Barking in 2010.

UNIMA President Dadi D Pudumgee describes Peter’s contribution as exceptional. “Your dedication has not only advanced puppetry as an artistic and cultural practice but has also helped connect communities, inspired generations, and preserved a tradition that continues to evolve with meaning and relevance.”

Peter Wilson established Little Dog Barking in 2010 after founding and directing the Capital E National Theatre for Children and an outstanding career in theatre, puppetry and the arts in Australia. Jacqueline Coats, who co-directed several works with Wilson, took up the artistic reins of Little Dog Barking following his death in 2021.

Awards followed Peter wherever he worked and this international honour recognises Peter Wilson’s pioneering achievements as an innovator, creative collaborator, and mentor to many in puppetry and theatre arts. The UNIMA Council “gives this honour with gratitude and respect from a global community that acknowledges your legacy.”

Jacqueline Coats says: “I’m thrilled Peter’s work is being recognised on a global scale. It’s wonderful news and the company is immensely proud of everything we have achieved over the past fourteen years, presenting quality theatre for up to approximately a quarter of a million children, and their families. Peter was an extraordinarily talented and generous person.”

Coats says while Peter’s colleagues are delighted, it is a bittersweet time for the company, which is announcing its painful decision to close.

“Covid 19 hit the company hard. Audience demand and income has been slow to recover. With pressure on arts funding locally and nationally and faced with ever-increasing costs, our Board has made the very tough call to close.”

The company is profoundly grateful to its core team, many donors, loyal audience members and creative collaborators who have supported its work through the years. performing to children and families of Aotearoa, Australia, United Kingdom, China, Korea and Japan.

The company built several enduring partnerships with international and regional festivals, venues across the Wellington region, and undertook extensive schools touring. Coats says the aroha the company always received made possible the mahi that produced a suite of loved, witty, sometimes challenging and always magical children’s and family theatre The work did not shy away from both timeless and contemporary issues that children and families often wrestle with. Favourites include the award-winning Duck, Death and the Tulip, Guji Guji, The White Tree, and finally in 2024, The Adventures of Tahi and Kōwhai, written and directed by Jacqueline Coats (as a prequel to The White Tree).

Gifted puppeteer and performer Kenny King has been a constant presence with the company, leading many of its national and international tours. In addition, the company collaborated with leading musicians, designers, performers and guest directors, from across Aotearoa and overseas.

Their engagement with productions over the years reflects an unshakeable belief that both Peter Wilson and the company lived by – that children deserve only the very best that the arts can offer.

“As the light that Little Dog Barking shone now dims, other creative fires will be lit,” says Jacqueline Coats. “We look forward to a brighter future, where children’s theatre builds on Peter’s legacy of wonderful joy, and can flourish, both here in Aotearoa and around the world.”