Philip Millar erects a monster of a show
Philip Millar profile
Kew resident, puppet maker Philip Millar is the writer, producer and puppeteer of Tyrannosaurus Sex, a puppet rock opera, set to surprise and delight adult audiences in the Melbourne Comedy Festival this April.
Over the last twenty years Philip has worked for Melbourne based puppet companies such as Polyglot and Handspan. He designed the puppets for ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, ‘The Hobbit’ and the Channel Nine Saturday morning show, ‘Pig’s Breakfast’.
But Tyrannosaurus Sex is different. It’s all his, from conception to erection. That is, apart from the music, written and performed by Philip’s good friend Derek Rowe. Derek and Philip went through Rusden teacher training twenty years ago.
Philip describes Rowe’s music as fantastic. ‘It’s catchy, poppy and fun. It incorporates a variety of musical influences.’
Millar wrote Tyrannosaurus Sex because it felt like unfinished business. ‘I’d made a film in second year of my teaching media course, a horror film called ‘The Pink Oboe Bites Back’ which was about a man and his penis and his penis escaping and his inability to lure it back successfully. It was kind of a splatter comedy nonsense thing, which was quite fun to make.’
Tyrannosaurus Sex, however, is the story of a life size penis called Bob who only wants to be bigger. By the end of the show, Bob has worked out that he’s actually just one part of a man as he sings the finale; ‘Every penis has a brain.’
The show explores how male sexuality can affect self-esteem and how difficult it can be to live up to media expectations.
‘It seemed I hadn’t quite explored the ideas enough in the relationship of a bloke and his penis,’ says Philip. ‘It seemed to affect a whole lot of other relationships or it could also be read as a metaphor for a whole lot of other relationships. So I worked on an idea revolving around sexual relationships and sexual imagery and how blokes in particular related to it.’
Millar thinks puppets are ideal for saying things that the other performing arts can’t say. Puppets have traditionally said the unspeakable or put things in such a way that makes them either palatable or humorous. They also have the advantage of being symbols.
In Bob’s case, it’s pretty clear, he’s a cute dancing penis.
Millar values excellence in puppetry. ‘I admire puppets which have obviously had a great deal of care go into their design and thoughtfulness go into their control and application.’
'That can apply to a very simple thing, like Kermit for example because he’s beautifully made and simple and wonderful, and incredibly complex robots as well.’
Millar first suspected his interest in puppets could develop into a career during work experience in form four in Timboon High with teacher Marj Lowe in the primary school. He made some puppets with the kids and Marj and they ended up doing shows together for the primary school and the library.
‘I built a whole range of bits and pieces and I had a little conductor puppet who played one of Dvorak’s Slavonic dances who leapt about and waved his arms frantically with a little baton.’
There’s a range of puppet influences in Tyrannosaurus Sex, everything from Slimy the Worm from Sesame Street to the Tyrannosaurus from Jurassic Park.
Tyrannosaurus Sex does tend to hide the puppeteer. It’s more about style than the puppeteer being visible. ‘This show doesn’t explore the relationship between puppeteer and the puppet until right at the end. Richard Bradshaw [the director of T. Sex] thought this was the best and funniest part of the show, which I was really pleased about because it was supposed to be.’
Tyrannosaurus Sex can be seen (adults only) at
Bar Open, 317 Brunswick Street FITZROY
During the Comedy Festival
End