From puppies to puppets

Rob Irvin’s face may be familiar to Peninsula pet-owners after his 20-year career as a veterinarian at clinics in Hastings, Mount Eliza and Mornington. Listeners to 89.9The Light might recall hearing him as ‘Dr Rob’, the radio station’s past resident vet. Rob’s love of animals has always been obvious. But in early 2021, as a competitor on ABC TV’s Hard Quiz, Rob revealed his other passion: puppets.

Demonstrating expert knowledge of Jim Henson, Rob won the episode in which he featured, the result coming as little surprise to family who have always known Rob’s admiration of The Muppets’ creator. Growing up in country NSW, Rob would give his soft toys different names, personalities and silly voices, using them to stage puppet shows for his own entertainment or with family as a captive audience.

Continuing into adulthood, Rob’s reputation for making others laugh using his vocal talents led to a friend casually passing him a puppet one day with the suggestion: “You should have a go at this; I reckon you’d be good at it.”

Rob’s enthusiasm for puppetry was further ignited when two of his children attended a series of puppeteering workshops. Given an opportunity to chat with the puppeteer Chris Elkington, Rob found they had much in common, both being passionate puppeteers and fathers. From this connection, the course of Rob’s working life would change.  In November 2021, the two men combined their talents to form Melbourne Puppet Kerfuffle in Tyabb, delivering educational and entertaining puppet shows at kindergartens, libraries and primary schools.

After finishing up in veterinary practice, Rob worked part-time in a school for children on the autism spectrum. When they join to consider characters and storylines for Puppet Kerfuffle, Rob’s previous experience working with neuro-diverse kids, together with Chris’s background as a qualified teacher, informs the process. After lockdown, the pair have toured Victorian schools performing a show about resilience.  With children struggling on return to school, discussion of the topic was timely.

Able to communicate serious messages in an engaging way, Rob says children listen to puppets differently than to adults. With this in mind, parents and teachers will be pleased to learn Puppet Kerfuffle is touring the Reboot’s Cyber Safety Show this year, presenting puppets acting out scenarios about how to be safe online. To learn more, visit puppetkerfuffle.com; for direct inquiries about school shows and puppet performance workshops, email melbournepuppetkerfuffle@gmail.com