Dr Egg and the Man With No Ear

2007-2011
Artistic Team

Writer Catherine Fargher
Director Jessica Wilson
Designer Jonathon Oxlade
Animator Jamie Clennett
Composer Lara Golan
Puppet Maker Graeme Davis

Producers

2007 Sydney Opera House 
2007 Performing Lines
2007 Melbourne Performing Arts Centre
2008 Redmoon Theatre Chicago
2010 Jessica Wilson Productions

Awards

2011 Winner AWGIE Award (Australian Writers Guild National Scriptwriting Industry Awards) 
for Children’s Theatre Writing

2008 Nominated Jeff Awards Chicago (Production Animation, Design)

After a man loses his ear in a freak accident with a snappy bull terrier, a mysterious scientist called Dr Egg offers to grow the man a new one. But there’s a catch: the doctor needs a piece of flesh from the man’s precious daughter. The man refuses to harm her, but his daughter finds her way to Dr Egg’s laboratory anyway. And instead of just an ear an entire new person grows... Now she’s bound to get an earful when her dad finds out.

Through puppetry, projected animation, original music and performance, this exquisite production playfully explores the ethical dilemmas society faces as new developments are made in genetics and cloning. 

Dr Egg and the Man with No Ear premiered at the Sydney Opera House, and went on to the Awesome Youth Arts festival in Perth. The production had already had high-profile success in Australia when it was picked up in the US, where it received rave reviews in its two month sell-out season in Chicago at Redmoon Theatre. It was nominated for four Jeff Awards, the leading Chicago theatre awards, was selected for the OHIO IPAY (International Youth Performing Arts) showcase, and with a new US booking agent it now toured Canada, and the Yukon in October 2010.

Dr Egg and the Man with No Ear is currently being developed into a transmedia project with help of director Maia Horniak, producer Danielle Weissner, and script editor, Gina Roncoli. Click here to find out more.
 

“A strange, melancholy, beautifully staged piece of theatre for young people” — West Australian

“Theatrically sophisticated and expertly realized” — RealTime Magazine

“There’s nothing in the city’s mainstream-performance scene with which to compare it. Inducing the kind of double-takes reserved for Pixar movies” — Chris Piatt, Time Out Chicago

“Matters [such as stem cells, DNA, cloning and genetics] are probed... this show has more polish than anything I’ve seen in years” — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“Playwright Catherine Fargher’s script acts as a canvas to the creative conceptualisation that is nothing short of amazing. This world-class collaboration achieves a breathtaking spectacle with poignant connective substance”Chicago Stage Review