NEWSFLASH!!
The 2nd Village Puppet Festival is coming!
24th & 25th October 2026
See below for details on how to apply!
Little Big World Puppet Company
Timeless Joy. Boundless Imagination.
THE 2ND VILLAGE PUPPET FESTIVAL
The 2nd Village Puppet Festival
Maleny Theatre, Maleny QLD Australia.
24th & 25th October taking place in the theatre and the grounds.
Applications open
Seeking puppet, mask, comedy, music, vendors, rovers, makers and anyone interested in adding their magic to this one of only two puppet festivals in Australia.
Step 1 Apply via lbwpuppetco@gmail.com for information
Easy to apply, Enquiries welcome!
Free assistance offered in creating an act if you are new to puppetry.
Workshops available at affordable fees.
What are we looking for?
Workshops for adults and children
Puppet performances ....of any size.
Rovers
Musicians....human and otherwise! There will be a buskers corner for Festival 2026. Flyer to be released after June 30th.. We are happy to receive ANY nquiries and receive samples of your work to see if you are great fit. ALL enquiries welcome
Makers, small scale vendors, Children selling home made crafts. Our puppet festival is magical and full of wonder. Help create it for 2026.
Forthcoming Workshop/s
Workshops in.... Shadow Puppetry, Theatre Lambe Lambe, Crankie workshop, Suitcase Theatre, Flying birds.
Pre-festival workshops will be held between May and October in readiness for the festival. Register interest now for info being released soon. lbwpuppetco@gmail.com
Workshops are available for anyone over 15.
The Village Puppet Festival 2024
Puppet Festival 2024 was a great success!
Thank you to our fabulous sponsors:
Larrikin Puppets, Queensland School of Performing Arts and Dimension Studios!
and a huge thank you to all of our artists, puppet demo experts, rovers and workshop facilitators:
Cyril & his Violin
The Squeaking Tribe
Bluebird & Wren
Parados Productions
Sean & his Puppets
Suitcase Theatre artists: Claire Smith, Alan & George, Kathy Hickson, Nan Cameron
Catbird Theatre
Larrikin Puppets
Little Big World Puppet Theatre
Jim Hickson
Jacob Wegenaar
The students of QSPA for roving and busking!
Thank you also to our rock band Led Angels!
About us
Welcome to the boundless power of imagination, the freedom to dream and the magic of play. We embrace opportunities to explore, create, and inspire. We stand for affordability, fun, and the timeless joy of theatre.
We offer workshops, performances and interaction at events.
We connect with anyone who needs a spark of magic in their lives. Little Big World Puppet Theatre will remind you of the wonders of childhood, making you feel magical and childlike once more.
We are many things - dynamic and versatile, sometimes quiet, other times loud and entertaining. We are approachable, timeless, artistic and educational, blending theatre with play and stories.
We are dedicated to the magic of puppetry, play and imagination. Join us in creating a world where every moment is an adventure.
The work of Little Big World Puppet Company
Forest
Creating a world of puppetry for children. Over some weeks in Autumn 2024 puppets, masks and structures were designed and made for a final parade in a forest setting to an audience of parents and friends.
Suitcase Theatre Workshops
Take an old suitcase and create a performance space for puppets. An intriguing workshop where the only limit is your imagination. Held twice per year in readiness for The Puppet Festival!
COMING SOON! Shadow Puppet and Crankie Workshop
A workshop to create shadow puppets and a performance item from a cardboard box
The Village Puppet Festival
One of only two Puppet Festivals in the entire country of Australia! An absolute delight with workshops, roving, Teddy Bear and Doll picnic, Puppet Parade with opportunity to see exhibitions of many types of puppets.
Workshops & Performances
Do you wish to become a puppeteer, offer performances and make your own puppets or performance stage?
Do you need roving puppeteers for your event?
Are you looking for a puppet performance or storytelling session with puppets for your classrom, aged care residents or festival?
Workshops
From time to time puppetry workshops are offered that are affordable. Some types of workshops are unique to Queensland.
Roving at events
We offer roving for events, we have marionettes, rod puppets, flying birds, wraparound puppets like snakes and dragons. We also have a stock of larger structures.
Storytelling with puppets
We offer performances to small groups, some from a suitcase, others with staging. We only offer small scale puppet performances to keep it personal and magical.
We don't use lighting or fancy sets, Our production style is similar to looking into the mind of a child.
Events
We are proud to be the company that is offering the very first puppet festival in Queensland.
The Puppet Town Festival will have its inaugral event in 2024 at Mapleton Village Hall on November 9th and 10th 2024.
Consultancy
Catherine Steer-ONeill has been a puppetmaker for many years. She specializes in making shadow puppets, rod puppets, flying puppets, large structure, suitcase theatre, crankies, and is able to advise on becoming a street entertainer or puppeteer.
Catherine is a Masters qualified arts practitioner and would be happy to assist on your theatre show should it require advice or a puppet to be made. She can direct you in a puppet production ensuring the best experience for your audience. She also specializes in intimacy co-ordination, large scale theatre direction, actor training, playwrighting and devising using physical theatre, Commedia dell Arte, maskmaking, circus skills and teaches piano and acoustic drums, theatre audition preparation and confidence building for life and stage.
Catherine Steer-O'Neill
A lifetime of theatre and a continuing passion for all things creative.
Catherine's first professional work was in Theatre in Education at Colchester Mercury Theatre, Essex aged 16. At 21, She created Lucy Lollipops Puppet Theatre touring her puppetry work around Essex, England.
Originally from London, Catherine gained an Honours degree in Performing Arts in 1995 and due to her work in puppetry became known for her skills in managing large audience groups, her ability to direct plays and her creative ideas for storytelling eventually becoming Head of Drama in one of the most challenging high schools in England. Undertaking musicals, Shakespeare plays and festival theatre she was also Teacher in charge of Traveller children, exemplary in behaviour management delivering her classes with a philosophy of 'giving respect gains respect'.
Emigrated in 2009 to Queensland, Australia and founded Queensland School of Performing Arts an actor training school for young people in Nambour producing up to 10 productions per year of published and original work.
QSPA produced the very first Young people's Shakespeare Festival on the Sunshine Coast.
She also formed the very first youth theatres in Nambour, Maleny, Glasshouse, Beerwah, Bli Bli and Mapleton.
In 2017 Catherine gained a Masters in Performing Arts at University of The Sunshine Coast.
Her skill set is a variety of specialist theatre subjects such as Viewpoints, Introducing Shakespeare to those new to his works, Mask, Commedia Dell Arte, Theatre of The Oppressed, Circus Skills.
In her theatre company she is ensemble leader creating supportive, egoless groups to produce intensive, challenging productions. The company uses Barestage Theatre to focus on acting and building confidence in actors. Minimal costume, no lights or elaborate staging ensures that the young actor focuses on character and acting skills gaining confidence for later work in traditional theatre or life in general.
She has directed over 45 productions and written over 25 plays.
Catherine created Little Big World Puppet Company in 2020 and is a master of puppet making and offers workshops in the community. She makes all manner of puppets from Bunraku, tabletop, shadow, large structures and runs workshops in Suitcase Theatre, Crankie making and longer workshops enabling children to make puppets for parades to family and friends.
She also runs a Shakespeare and Commedia company named Bawdy Codpiece Theatre Company offering Masters level training to an ensemble of 15.
An interesting career of puppetry, school teaching, theatre writing and directing, her work is affordable from teaching drama, to running workshops and teaching piano and drums.
Her core belief is that everyone should be able to enjoy the world of theatre and performing.