Evangeline Than

While in (clay) modelling class yesterday, chit-chatting with our instructor (I could tell you his name but he might not like that), I found out that Ian Tregonning, who runs short courses at FTI, and is something of a Big Deal in Perth puppetry circles, was one of the puppeteers in Labyrinth!

For want of a better analogy, this is like someone telling the Archbishop of Canterbury that he knows someone who was at the Last Supper.

Actually, that’s a terrible analogy, because I am nothing like the head of the Church of England. At the age of 11, I tried to do an all-day fast for Good Friday and then had a breakdown at lunchtime.

As someone who grew up in the ’80s, Labyrinth is right up there with Pretty in Pink and Ghostbusters and the Breakfast Club and A-ha and Wham! and Michael Jackson when he was a good-looking black guy and Transformers (I could go on but I’ve mangled this sentence enough already), and all the cheesy, tacky, angsty, defining, delightful phenomena of that time, made even more perfect in my memory through the judicious application of nostalgia dust.

I remember Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, the girl who has to find her way out of the Goblin King’s labyrinth before midnight, or lose her baby brother, Toby, forever. Connelly’s acting at the beginning of the film was terrible, very stiff (it did get better as the movie progressed), but even then you could see she had a “something”, a lovely, innocent quality, that made her perfect for the role.

And then there was David Bowie. DAVID BOWIE. Rock legend. Who also looked damn good in tights. Enough said.

When Labyrinth came out in 1986, I was in Year 4 (feel free to do the maths and then mentally hand me a Zimmer frame) and that film made me love David Bowie with all of my twisted little heart. I truly admired the strength that it took for Sarah to resist the lure of the Goblin Kingdom (and the Goblin King–rawr) but naturally, that admiration was tinged with regret. Let me tell you right now: I could not have done it. Jareth would turn up in his black leather number and I’d be all, Toby? What Toby?

The masquerade ball in the movie is the scene that I remember the best. I made a mix tape (yes, that’s right, children, a mix TAPE) for my cousin with, “As the World Falls Down” on it, and her sister gave me a good telling off the next time she saw me. I ended up having to make the same mix tape about four times.

Apparently Ian will not divulge which goblin he worked with, but it meant spending a lot of time at the same height as David Bowie’s crotch. I will try to ask Ian for more details if I ever meet him, but I’m sure he’s quite sick of telling Labyrinth stories and will probably fling his pointiest puppet at me.

I went to a cocktail party after I learned about FTI’s association with Ian, and almost everyone I told squee-ed with excitement as well, except for one clueless 28-year-old who is now dead to me. HOW CAN SOMEONE HAVE NEVER HEARD OF LABYRINTH? Anyone else? Because if you haven’t, you’re dead to me too.

Ian was also a principal puppeteer on Little Shop of Horrors with Rick Moranis, and includes The Muppet Christmas Carol, Babe, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Dr Dolittle on his very impressive résumé. He will be holding a Puppetry for Television course on the 18th and 19th of April at FTI. For more details, please visit the FTI website.