“The audience groans when the puppets come out”

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This is one of the unique dilemmas for a director working in children's theater.

But Derek Bond, writer and director of Dinosaur World, says there's a delicate balance to be struck when designing a family show for three-year-olds while maintaining the level of realism of Jurassic Park.

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This is especially tested when younger audience members come face-to-face with the menacing and somewhat unresponsive Tyrannosaurus rex. Like all dinosaurs on stage, this meat-eating giant is played by a large, detailed puppet. Dolls can be seen, but they seem to quickly fade into the background.

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“It's a bit threatening, it's a bit scary,” admits Bond in an interview from London. “The children will eventually help bring the big T-Rex under control. When (he) comes out, some of them hide under their chairs or hold their parents or grandparents … and are very scared. But at the end of that section, they are responsible. They yell at the T-Rex, scare him back onto the stage, and feel great afterwards. You want kids to feel safe, to feel scared, and ultimately feel empowered after going through a scary time.”

“Dinosaur World” concludes its North American tour with a one-day matinee on May 25 at 2:00 PM in the Jack Singer Concert Hall at the Arts Commons. Kingdom. It might be kid-friendly, but it's definitely not Barney. The puppets were created by Max Humphreys, a famous puppet designer who worked with Cirque du Soleil and was inspired by traditional art. Japan's Bunraku puppet school – and brought to life by a team of puppeteers.

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For the most part, dinosaurs aren't scary. They are large but relatively gentle herbivores, including Triceratops, Giraffatitan and Segnosaurus. In a simple plot, a researcher named Miranda guides the audience through dinosaur facts, with the giant reptiles on stage with varying degrees of success. Children in the audience are invited to interact with them both during and after the performance.

Alberta is the perfect place to end a long tour for Dinosaur World. It's world-famous for finding bones, but it's also a hot spot for puppetry, home to the world-famous Old Trout Puppet Workshop, the Fraggle Rock reboot, and the Animated Objects Festival.

Dinosaur World was born at a time when puppetry was active in mainstream theatres, particularly in England. Most of the puppets involved in the performance are veterans of the theater show “War Horse”. Based on the children's novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo, it debuted at London's National Theater in 2007 before traveling to the West End and Broadway. It became a full-fledged sensation in the theater of Great Britain.

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“It changed everything, because suddenly puppetry could be taken much more seriously,” says Bond. “There are currently shows in the UK, Studio Ghibli's versions of Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. They are phenomenal shows going on in London right now. There is also a touring and spectacular version of Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The Puppeteers in this show won an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor (in 2022).

In 2024, Dinosaur World won the prestigious Olivier Award for Best Family Show.

Bond is a theater veteran who has worked in everything from award-winning West End musicals to Shakespeare and Neil Simon. He directed Little Shop of Horrors at the Royal Exchange in 2014.

“I love that theater can be anything from a big musical to a classical chorus and a dance troupe with a chorus, and it can be one person in a room above a pub,” he says. “I try to do as many different types of theater as possible. I believe that working in one type of theater, in one genre, informs how you work in others. I've been asked to do Little Shop of Horrors at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. The big question for Little Shop of Horrors is, of course, how do you do Audrey II?'

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In the post-war equestrian world, puppetry seemed the logical answer, so it took advantage of the abundance of talent in Britain.

“It was my first foray into puppetry and I fell in love with it,” she says.

He followed it up with “Stick of the Dump,” about a boy who meets, or imagines, a caveman. Bond once again used puppetry to tell his tale.

“When I got the chance to work on Dinosaur World, I jumped at it,” he says. “It's been amazing to work, to see kids all over the world get excited about this show.”

Early in pre-production on Dinosaur World, Bond visited the workshop where he saw the dinosaurs for the first time. They are not finished. Some were unpainted and missing parts. However, it was amazing how the performers gave life and movement to these huge puppets.

“It's even more amazing for the audience,” he says, “They get to see it for the first time with lights and sound, and the puppets, of course, are finished, and the puppets have been practicing for weeks to get the moves right. Part of the show is we get kids from the audience to help Miranda get up and grow among these dinosaurs and bring them to Calgary. Therefore, some children can meet these dinosaurs face to face and get close to them. It's very exciting for them.”

“When the puppets first came out, there were groans in the audience,” he says.

The World of Dinosaurs performance will take place on May 25 at 2:00 PM in the Jack Singer Concert Hall at the Arts Commons.

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