DIE, DIE DIE, OLD PEOPLE, DIE!

Geriatric puppets. Raw hands. Live video. No illusions.

A tragicomic puppet fever dream, Die! Die! Die! Old People Die! is a radical adaptation of the cult classic by Ridiculusmus, where Norman, V and Arthur are 120 years old, in a love triangle, and dying of old age.

Watch in delicious discomfort as cinema collides with live puppetry. Performers manipulate puppets in full view, while live-streamed video drags you uncomfortably close.

Intimate. Invasive. Impossible to look away from.

Remounted after a sell-out season at the 2025 Melbourne Fringe Festival, and developed with original creator David Woods, this is puppetry at its most unflinching, stripping back the curtain on death, desire, and the messy bits in-between.

Created and performed by Puppet Rats.

First developed as part of the Lemony S Lab.

“A sheer exhibition of craft, it’s superb” - Theatre Matters.

Cast & Creatives

Original Script written by Jon Haynes and David Woods (Ridiculusmus)

Adapted by Puppet Rats

Puppetry Direction by Jacob Williams

Performed by Fiona MacDonald, Tim Sneddon, Donna Prince and Em Jevons

Dramaturgy by David Woods

Outside Eyes Tina Jackson and Jalen Ong

Set and Puppet Design: Donna Prince

Technical Design by Bart Mangan