Moss Piglet

Microscopic. Indestructible.

About

  • AGES 5 10
  • 45mins
  • Flashing lights, Haze effects, Loud music

Tardigrades… perhaps you’ve heard of them? Small but mighty, they have withstood multiple extinction cycles, surviving boiling temperatures and even the vacuum of space. With a surprising cult following, some people call them ‘Water Bears’, others call them ‘Moss Piglets’.

Moss Piglet is an explosive portrait of the world’s most resilient and curious critters. Taking young audiences from jelly-filled petri dishes to the depths of a volcano to Arctic glaciers to the moon, the work explodes the mysteries of the wildly weird tardigrade.

Playful and thrilling, Moss Piglet is an epic new work about how even the tiniest of things can be the strongest. Think Bruce Willis in Die Hard… but teeny tiny with eight legs… who loves moss.

ON TOUR

Murray Bridge Town Hall
Murray Bridge, Australia
27 May 2025
Chaffey Theatre
Renmark, Australia
30 May 2025
Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre
Mount Gambier, Australia
03 June 2025
Northern Festival Centre
Port Pirie, Australia
06 June 2025
Middleback Arts Centre
Whyalla, Australia
10 June 2025

Access and Inclusion

The Saturday 19 October, 10.30am performance of Moss Piglet will be AUSLAN interpreted for deaf or hard of hearing audience members and audio described for blind or vision impaired audiences.

If you need assistance or have any questions, please call us on 08 8210 7200 (voice only) or email info@windmill.org.au.

Free public installation

Alongside the world premiere season, will be a free, interactive installation lead by local artists Emmaline Zannelli and Liam Somerville in collaboration with Max Brading.

Visitors will see a moving kaleidoscope of collaged macro and microscopic footage displayed through a wall of screens, created with and by the students of Ocean View College. Stationed around the foyer will be science tables with microscopes where audiences can view various seemingly mundane materials within a microscopic world – as though through the eyes of a tardigrade!

Details

The foyer installation has now been completed. A huge thanks to Ocean View College and our participating artists, acknowledged below:

Installation Creative Team

Installation and Workshop Lead Artists – Emmaline Zanelli and Liam Somerville (CAPITAL WASTE)
Multi-media Designer – Max Brading
AV Hardware Technician & Designer – CAPITAL WASTE
Installation facilitators: Ashton Malcolm and Sam McMahon
Artistic Collaborators: The students of Ocean View College

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Credits

  • Director, Co-Creator Clare Watson
  • Co-Creator Elena Carapetis
  • Performer, Co-Creator Gareth Davies
  • Performer Dylan Miller
  • Designer Meg Wilson
  • Composer, Sound Designer Luke Smiles
  • AV Designer Michael Carmody
  • Lighting Designer Chris Petridis
  • Lighting Designer Richard Vabre
  • Puppetry Director Nathan O’Keefe
  • Puppetry Director Jonathon Oxlade
  • Movement Consultant Larissa McGowan

Meet the Cast and Creative Team

Clare Watson

Director, Co-Creator

Clare is an award-winning director and theatre-maker. She was the Artistic Director of Black Swan State Theatre Company from 2016 to 2022. Previously, Clare was Artistic Director at St Martins collaborating with children and teenagers. Her work has been presented by Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, State Theatre Company South Australia, Sydney Theatre Company, Edinburgh Festival and Adelaide Festival among many others. Clare is a graduate of Directing at the Victorian College of the Arts and is a recipient of the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award.

In 2023, she was appointed the Artistic Director of Windmill Theatre Company.

Elena Carapetis

Co-Creator

Elena is an award-winning actor, writer and director based in Adelaide, South Australia. A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Elena has worked with State Theatre Company South Australia, Theatre Republic, Windmill Theatre Company, Brink Productions, Bell Shakespeare, Malthouse Theatre, Flying Penguin, Belvoir and Sydney Theatre Company among many others.

Her plays have been presented by State Theatre Company South Australia and Yirra Yaakin. Her screen credits include The Hunting, Irreverent, Heartbreak HighMarking Time, Blue Heelers, Water Rats, All Saints, Murder Call, Children’s Hospital and Snobs.

In 2023, she was a Story Consultant with Highview productions, where she wrote and directed her first short film Blame the Rabbit.

Gareth Davies

Performer, Co-Creator

Gareth is a performer, writer and theatremaker based in Sydney. He has performed with Belvoir, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Windmill Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare and Griffin Theatre Company among many others. He is a founding member of Black Lung Theatre and has toured works nationally. His screen credits include The Daughter (Screen NSW/Fate Films), The Letdown (Giant Dwarf/ABC), Hunters (Universal Cable/Valhalla) and Peter Rabbit (Animal Logic).

Dylan Miller

Performer

A graduate of Adelaide College of the Arts, Dylan has worked with State Theatre Company South Australia, Windmill Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company. In 2019 he toured internationally with The Secret River.

Meg Wilson

Designer

Meg Wilson is an Adelaide-based interdisciplinary artist and designer. Works include State Theatre Company of South Australia’s Terrestrial (2018), Euphoria (2021), Eureka Day (2021), Windmill Theatre Company’s Amphibian (2018), Patch Theatre (Lighthouse, AF 2020), Restless Dance Theatre’s Intimate Space and Guttered (2021) as well as several works with Vitalstatistix.  

Her GreenRoom award-winning work, SQUASH! with Arts House was part of the Festival of Live Art (FOLA, 2018). She has also exhibited independently with Contemporary Art Centre SA (2015), BLINDSIDE, VIC; Constance ARI, TAS; Nexus Arts, FELTspace and ACE Open. In 2018 she was a resident artist with Urban Theatre Projects (NSW), hand-weaving trampolines for production Right Here. Right Now.

Luke Smiles

Composer, Sound Designer

Luke creates highly detailed soundtracks for theatre, dance and film, working across all areas of music composition, sound design, foley and sound effects editing. His work is enjoyed by audiences both nationally and around the world.

Working under his business name motion laboratories, Luke has composed and produced soundtracks for many Australian and international artists & companies. Various credits include: Carbon Field (Queensland Ballet), ʻGʼ (Australian Dance Theatre), Glow (Chunky Move), Roadkill, The Ninth Wave (The Farm), Split Second Heroes (Gabrielle Nankivell), SURGE (Dancenorth), The Maids (Sydney Theatre Company), Wildebeest, Neon Aether (Sydney Dance Company), Fugitive, School Dance and Girl Asleep (Windmill Theatre Co).

Michael Carmody

AV Designer

Michael Carmody is a Video and AV Designer and filmmaker. He has an extensive body of work with some of the Australia’s leading theatre companies including Black Swan Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, St Martins Youth Art Centre, as well as collaborations with Angus Cerini and Julia Morris.

Beyond theatre, Michael’s short documentary Debutantes was an official selection at the Melbourne International Film Festival, Brisbane International Film Festival and Perth Revelation International Film Festival. In 2018 he won the Green Room Award for Design in Contemporary and Experimental Performance for For the Ones Who Walk Away.

Chris Petridis

Lighting Designer

Chris is a lighting and video designer from Adelaide, working across theatre, dance, and other live events in Australia and internationally.

Chris has worked with renowned arts organisations including State Theatre Company of South Australia, Theatre Republic, Is This Yours, Australian Dance Theatre, Brink Productions, Restless Dance Theatre, Slingsby Theatre Company, Force Majure, Windmill Theatre Company and Vitalstatistix.

Chris recently worked on the inaugural Illuminate Adelaide Festival’s Light Cycles in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens crafted by the world-leading studio, Moment Factory. Other recent credits include Carla Lippis’ Mondo Psycho for WOMAD 2022, Theatre Republic’s How Not To Make It In America and Windmill Theatre Company’s Creation Creation.

Richard Vabre

Lighting Designer

Richard is a freelance lighting designer. He has lit productions for Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Victorian Opera, Windmill Theatre Co, Arena Theatre Company, NICA, The Darwin Festival and Back to Back Theatre.

He has also designed the lighting for Stuck Pig’s Squealing, Chambermade, Rawcus, Red Stitch, Polyglot, Melbourne Worker’s Theatre, Aphids and many productions at La Mama Awards. Richard has won 5 Green Room Awards including the Association’s John Truscott Prize for Excellence in Design (2004). He has also been nominated for 8 other Green Room Awards.

Nathan O’Keefe

Puppetry Director

Nathan has worked extensively in theatre, both nationally and internationally. He has toured Asia, USA, and all across Australia, working for companies including Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Windmill Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Griffin Theatre, Malthouse, Bell Shakespeare, Brink, Slingsby and Patch Theatre Company.

Nathan was a member of the State Theatre Company Actors Ensemble for 2017 and 2018.

Theatre credits include the title role in Macbeth, Sense & Sensibility, In The Club, A Doll’s House (STCSA Ensemble), Tartuffe (STCSA/Brink), Things I Know To Be True, The Importance of Being Earnest, Hedda Gabler (STCSA), Masquerade (STCSA/Griffin), Betrayal (STCSA/MTC) and the title role of Pinocchio (Windmill/STCSA/Malthouse/STC/NY for the US Premiere Season at The New Victory Theatre on Broadway)

Nathan is an Adelaide Theatre Guide and Adelaide Critics Circle Award recipient.

 

Jonathon Oxlade

Puppetry Director

Jonathon has designed set and costumes for Queensland Theatre, LaBoite Theatre, isthisyours?, Aphids, Arena Theatre Company, Polyglot, The Real TV Project, Polytoxic, Men of Steel, Lemony S Puppet Theatre, Terrapin Puppet Theatre, Vitalstatistix and Barking Gecko.

He has also worked with Bell Shakespeare, The Border Project, State Theatre of South Australia, Dead Puppet Society, The Last Great Hunt, Sydney Theatre Company, The Escapists, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sandpit, Belvoir St Theatre and Windmill Theatre Co, where he is resident designer. Jonathon has received numerous awards. Most recently in 2016, Jonathon was awarded the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship and received APDG awards for both Best Production Design and Best Costume Design for Girl Asleep, and received an AACTA award for best Costume for Girl Asleep.

In 2017, he received the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Costume Design for Mr Burns.

Larissa McGowan

Movement Consultant

Larissa McGowan is an award-winning Australian dancer and choreographer. An independent choreographer and movement consultant she was a longstanding performer and Associate Choreographer with Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) she is currently Associate Artist for Restless Dance Theatre. In 2003 she won the Green Room Award for Best Female Dancer and Best Female Dancer in a Ballet or Dance Work at the Helpmann Awards and the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer in 2004.

Media

"★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Windmill Theatre Company’s brilliant new production Moss Piglet is the perfect combination of theatre and science that will keep audiences of any age enthralled…"

Glam Adelaide

"Their physicality and sleek comedic timing, paired with clever sound design, means the audience is immediately hooked and stays that way..."

InReview

"★ ★ ★ ★ ½ Insightful and thoroughly entertaining, Moss Piglet is a beautiful and timely reminder that one does not need to be large to be strong. A must see for the whole family."

ArtsHub

"This is theatre that transcends the usual collection of theatrical elements—lighting, sound, costumes, and set—truly extending the theatre experience into our contemporary time. "

Fifty+SA

"Windmill Theatre Co. have outdone themselves with Moss Piglet..."

Kiddo Mag

Official trailer

Acknowledgements

A Windmill Theatre Company production presented in association with Adelaide Festival Centre. Made possible through the generous support of the Studio Collective.

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