The 2017 Adelaide Fringe Award nominee is ready to tour Queensland with this wonderful and magical family show full of wacky thingamabobs. Tie up some ‘Loose Ends’ when this adventurous one-man show loaded with groovy gadgets, naughty puppets and madcap clowning lands in your town. With a touch of Wallace and Gromit and Mr. Bean, Loose Ends is built from hard rubbish and op-shop treasures, is a celebration of the capricious and full of unexpected and quirky situations. A tale of friendship, disappointment and meaningful connections... and all the messy bits in between. Loose Ends is exciting family theatre at its most original and inventive, highly visual, emotional and funny. After my 2015 tour with ‘Squaring the Wheel’ throughout Queensland, I would love to come back with my new show. ‘Loose Ends’ definitely ticks the box of inspiring and encouraging creativity in kids. One of the big objectives in the work is to present creativity both as a life tool and a as source of playful fun for all. Loose Ends was inspired by kinetic visual art and my passion to discover unusual use of everyday objects, possible relationships with them and creating a world where different, somehow magical events rule.

Venue Format
Theatre, Hall, Black Box Venue
Technical Rating
C, D
Touring Party
2
Considerations

Possibility of relatively black -out/ darkness Stage size (or performing area) minimum: 8 x 6.5 Height minimum: 3.30m Max number of audience: 300

Jens Altheimer is a theatre deviser and performer, specialising in visual theatre for families. He also adventures in arts project around concepts of kinetic installation. Trained at the Lecoq International School of Theatre in Parish, he relocated from Europe to Melbourne in 2009. He is the zealous frontman of his one-man shows, quirkologist, established collector, inventor and transformer of thingamabobs and other wondrous oddities of day to day life.

His show 'Squaring the Wheel' is the winner of the Adelaide Fringe Award for Best Family Show in 2013. It is touring nationally and internationally, having travelled throughout Queensland, WA, Victoria, NSW and South Australia, as well as in New Zealand and Malta. So far, Squaring the Wheel was performed about 310 times. His latest show 'Loose Ends' started to be on the road September 2016 with a five week Victorian tour. He also has been running workshops and community arts projects with different organisations (Science Works, Arts Victoria, Artplay, Theatre Kimberley, The Village Festival i.e) and as an extra component to his tours.

Company Website
jensaltheimer.com

Unique Selling Point

Loose Ends is an unusual theatrical experience full of surprises! It is rich in visual variety, and audiences will be stunned by the contraptions coming to life before their very eyes in this curious world. Loose Ends features contraptions, tricks, puppetry, shadow theatre and quirky characters, but it’s also a story about friendship, acceptance and loyalty. Plenty of entertainment with a dose of emotion

Marketing Materials

Adelaide Fringe Award Nomination, Website, online video, workshops for schools and general audience, teacher's notes, poster and flyer templates, images, Facebook page

Community Engagement

With its blending of different styles (puppetry, contraption building, shadow theatre, circus, comedy), the show offers something for everybody, thus developing new audiences. The show travels with an engaging workshop program, that will inspire participants to explore the world of creative tinkering and making. Venues can choose to include a Q&A session after the show where kids can ask questions about the performance. Jens is also available to mingle in the foyer and discuss the work in more detail.