ONE of the world’s most renowned ventriloquists returns to Tasmania this week — and he can hardly wait.
David Strassman, who is bringing his iTedE tour to Burnie, Devonport, Launceston and Hobart, is looking forward to returning for the first time since 2012.
“Tassie is really the jewel of Australia,” he said “You’ve got amazing people. I’ve been coming to Tassie for 20 years and I can’t wait to bring back this amazing new show which breaks the laws of puppet physics.”
Strassman, who is also a qualified pilot, said he first visited Tasmania in the 1990s when he flew to Cradle Mountain to explore the wilderness, and has been hooked ever since.
“The audience in Tassie, I don’t know why, [but] you guys are well read,” he said. “I’m not going to mention some of the places I go to in New South Wales but they can’t hold a candle to the level of Tassie.”
iTedE heads to Australia after a sold-out preview season in Los Angeles, and Strassman reckons it’s the cleverest show he has done.
“The show is about me preparing to give a TED talk and I discuss the idea of ‘Is technology hurting our imagination’?’ he said.
Strassman said the show, which includes several of his favourite characters including Ted E. Bare and Chick Wood, involved “traditional hand-up the-bum ventriloquism” as well as a 15-minute act involving all characters on stage at once, with Strassman doing all five voices as well as his own and operating the movement of the puppets with a handheld wireless device.
“No other ventriloquist has ever done this,” he said.
Limited tickets are still available to all shows. More information can be found at http://www.davidstrassman.com
This article was originally written for The Mercury