Stark Raven Mad

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Build your capacity to make great art happen and in front of audiences across the state.
Showcase
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QShowcase 2025
CONNECT Conference + Showcase 2024
Gather Rounds
Pathfinders: Independent Producer Intensive
Tour Guides
Blakchat
Resources
Resources
Here is a collection of resources you may find useful when planning a tour, programming an event or organising a community engagement project.
Tools, Templates & Guides
First Nations Resources
About
About
QTouring is Queensland's arts touring and engagement service.
News
Frequently Asked Questions
Contact Us
Upload Your Works

Touring

We broker relationships, build skills and capacity, and guide you towards extraordinary arts experiences.

View Touring

Find a Work

Find a Community Engaged Project

Find a Presenter

Initiatives

Build your capacity to make great art happen and in front of audiences across the state.

View Initiatives

Showcase

QShowcase 2026 QShowcase 2025 CONNECT Conference + Showcase 2024

Gather Rounds

Pathfinders: Independent Producer Intensive

Tour Guides

Blakchat

Resources

Here is a collection of resources you may find useful when planning a tour, programming an event or organising a community engagement project.

View Resources

Tools, Templates & Guides

First Nations Resources

About

QTouring is Queensland's arts touring and engagement service.

View About

News

Frequently Asked Questions

Upload Your Works

From 1 October 2026, touring support services previously delivered by Stage Queensland through QTouring will be managed by the Regional Arts Services Network (RASN).

Visual Theatre / PuppetryInteractive / ImmersivePerformance Art / Spoken Word

Catbird Theatre Company

Contact Details

Photo by Sarah Hope

About the work

Stark Raven Mad is an award-winning fast-paced, interactive poetry show for kids.

Stark Raven Mad is dark and funny, but also delightful and a bit absurd. It takes the audience through a poetical journey bringing to life gothic poems using puppets, costumes, movement, and music.

Poetry from Edgar Allan Poe, Heinrich Hoffman, Hilaire Belloc, Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carroll, and many more.

Prepare to be amused and little frightened!

About the company

Technical Considerations

Stark Raven Mad can be performed in auditoriums, libraries, multi-purpose rooms, schools, community halls, and small theatres. Almost anywhere!

Best enjoyed by people 6+.
Performance space minimum 3x3m with power, excluding audience space.

Performed by a cast of 3 professional actors and a stage manager who specialise in theatre for young audiences. All have Blue Cards.

Curriculum Links & Educational Resource Materials included.
Running Time is 60 minutes inclusive of a post show Q & A.

Can include additional poetry performance workshops run by accredited teaching artists.

We provide 30 floor cushions for seating. Additional seating by venue is required.

We have our own sound system for small spaces, but not lighting.

Marketing & Engagement

Unique Selling Point

Stark Raven Mad makes poetry accessible to young people by bringing poems to life in a fast-paced, highly visual, and an engaging way. Performers bring audience members up on stage to enhance the poems retelling.
"Using puppets, costume, movement, and music, the show dances between deeply thought-provoking and deliciously macabre, never lingering long on one mood. This gives the show a buoyant rhythm, making it a less linear performance, and more like stepping in a cabinet of curiosities, each drawer revealing something strange and delightful." Cindy Vogels review for The Pineapple

Marketing Materials

Images, promo footage, presenter's pack

Engagement

We can offer poetry performance workshops in conjunction with the show.
We also offer pre and post show resource materials.

Details

Artforms

Visual Theatre / Puppetry

Interactive / Immersive

Performance Art / Spoken Word

Audiences

Children

Families

General

Age Groups

Primary6 - 11 years

Available to tour

From 2026

Until 2027

Touring Information

Cost

Presenter Pack

Gallery

Sarah Hope

Mr. Bones looking for his ring

Mathew Youssef

The Spider about to catch the Fly

Laura Diaz

Calico Cat and Gingham Dog preparing to "Rock, Paper, Scissors"

Laura Diaz

Green Glass Goblin

Reviews

"With its combination of puppetry, play, and participation, it’s a fantastic choice for families and school groups looking for a fun and enriching theatrical experience. This show is a testament to the power of theatre in making literature accessible and enjoyable for all ages."

Stage Buzz Brisbane

Media Review

"The delight of poetry was captured with simple and very effective costumes, visual props, and puppets, drawing focus to the skill of the performers’ dance, acting, and sound effects. The performers were incredibly expressive and engaging."

Katrina Couzens

Audience Review

Acknowledgement of Country

We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

QTouring acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands, winds and water ways.

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