Featuring original works by some of Brisbane’s hottest performance makers, THE DPS LAB is a one-night only theatrical event. Showcasing three new visual theatre works by Dead Puppet Society’s Academy artists, this year’s bill features works WEAVER RABBIT’S LIGHTHOUSE by Margi Brown Ash & Genevieve Trace, Homegrown by Annabel Gilbert & Grace Longwill & Sarah Esser, and undomesticated by Charles Ball.

With fresh vibes and beats at The Princess Theatre’s outdoor bar and behind the scenes tours of Dead Puppet Society’s Fabrication Workshop before and after the show, don’t miss this sizzling smorgasbord of unexpected and experimental theatre.

DPS Academy culminates in an artist showcase, THE DPS LAB. With the technical resources of The Princess Theatre at their disposal, Academy artists will present a 20-minute demonstration of their original performance concepts for an audience including the general public, industry guests and DPS Academy alumni.

Our 2025 THE DPS LAB shows will be announced soon.

Homegrown by co-creators Sarah Esser, Grace Longwill, Annabel Gilbert

Letting things fester is the best fertiliser...

Tash and Sophie’s nursery remains vacant but their combined guilt and grief propagates something else; an unidentifiable plant that christens Sophie the attentive caregiver, and Tash, the unsuspecting carrier. The plant grows, while everything else stands still.

Created by Sarah Esser, Grace Longwill and Annabel Gilbert, Homegrown examines the pressures of heteronormativity and 'the nuclear family' on queer households through puppetry and stark, horror-inspired visuals.

Beneath the Smile of Sisyphus by Charles Ball

A dance about rebellion, repression, and the cost of civility.

We are expected to smile beneath the weight of our burdens—yet something stirs deeper. Society demands obedience, but beneath the mask of civility, darker forces begin to press back. When the primal won’t stay buried, we discover that some things are heavier than the boulders we push.

Created by Charles Ball, Beneath the Smile of Sisyphus explores the tensions that arise when animal instinct collides with the absurdity of modern life. Through visceral dance-theatre, mythic imagery and raw physicality expose the quiet violence of conformity—and ask: is the struggle noble, or merely polite?