puppets made by puppeteers
Mamma, Yokai!
In this bilingual tale of survival and forgiveness, a lost child meets mystical folkloric creatures. These 'Yokai' mirror her parents, exploring fear, resilience, and familial struggle.
Mamma, Yokai!
Mamma, Yokai! is a visually striking new work following Tora, a Japanese-Australian child left by the road as punishment. Lost in the forest for seven days, she encounters Yokai — mischievous spirits from Japanese folklore, embodied by her parents — on a surreal journey that transforms them all.
Led by regional Victorian artists Hamish Fletcher and Tamara Rewse, in collaboration with KIOTheatre (Japan), longtime partners Sarah Kriegler (Dramaturge) and Kyoko Imazu (Designer), and fellow regional artists Jennifer Tran, the work blends Japanese folklore with contemporary challenges.
At its heart, Mamma, Yokai! explores the universal tensions of parenting and the resilience of a child.
Development
In February 2026, Things of Foam and Wood undertook a two-week intensive creative development with KIO Theatre from Osaka, hosted in Kyneton, Victoria. Together, we shared stories of family life, delved into Yokai and both ancient and contemporary mythologies and examined the narrative in depth.
We also found ourselves discussing the cultural nuances of fart jokes — an essential line of inquiry, given that they are part of our story! In fact, we even discovered that the Japanese word for faeces is “ben”… prompting a moment of sympathy for any Bens travelling to Japan!
