The HandleBards, the world’s first cycling theatre company, return for their fifth visit - this time with their riotous all-male version of Shakespeare’s hilarious and heart-breaking comedy! With true HandleBards
incredible energy, whirlwind physical theatre and some clever improv, every word spoken is Shakespeare - and they make every word work!

Tall Stories' magical stage adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's THE GRUFFALO has been given an all-new production design to
celebrate 20 years of stage performances all around the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and Australia – including London's West End, on Broadway and Sydney Opera House. "Tall Stories sets the benchmark for children’s theatre" Sunday Times

The Big Wooden Horse Theatre Company returned again with Claire Freedman's very popular MONSTERSAURUS. Adapted and directed for the stage by Adam Bampton-Smith. This
very funny adaptation of the well-known book cleverly managed to balance being just scary enough for our young audiences, but not too scary!!

“One night when she's fast asleep, an enormous snowy white bear climbs into Tilly's bedroom. It has a big black tongue and a yawn as big as your head...” The much-loved storybook by Raymond Briggs was brought to life on the stage by UK's Pins and Needles. 'The Bear' was a perfect introduction to theatre for little people.

The very popular Oliver Jeffers' THE WAY BACK HOME, originally adapted and directed by Big Wooden Horses' Adam Bampton-Smith, was restaged by Gardner & Wife Theatre with Junji Delfino and Christian Palencia. Now with a few Malaysian touches, it played to enthusiastic audiences for two weeks.

The Handlebards' all-female, high-energy AS YOU LIKE IT added Penang, Petaling Jaya and a number of schools to the already 500 miles they pedal up and down the length and breath of the UK. Now almost a Malaysian institution, audiences loved them yet again as they performed their trademark adaptation at breakneck speed of Shakespeare's classic.

Bill Davies and his Little Blue Monster Theatre, brought us his beautiful adaptation of Oliver Jeffers' LOST AND
FOUND. “Once there was a boy and one day, he found a penguin at his door. Lost! So, the boy decides to return the penguin to the South Pole”. And so begins this simple story of true friendship all told with puppetry, songs and music.

Big Wooden Horse returns with the show that's full of “fun, feathers, and laughter”. Combining three of Mo Willems’ award-winning books: Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus, Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog and Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late!, it was adapted and directed for the
stage by Big Wooden Horse’s artistic director, Adam Bampton-Smith.

Ten years after Edinburgh's Puppet State Theatre made their Asia debut here, Richard Medrington & Rick Conte returned with their wonderful THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES (with much assistance from Dog). We took them to Johor Bahru - our first time there - as well as Penang, Publika, and PJ Live Arts

The best-selling children’s book by Freedman and Cort is brought to pant-astic life by Big Wooden Horse's Adam Bampton-Smith. Despite being a big favorite in the West End and on Broadway, some of our local schools thought it a bit too risque but everyone else thought is was fresh, funny and full of lots and lots of pants!

Handlebars returned to Malaysia with their four-person ROMEO & JULIET in their now-trademark comedic, at break-neck-speed style. As one audience member Twittered: "I'll say it again.. @HandleBards is EXACTLY how Shakespeare should be done!" They're back in February, 2018, with their all-female As You Like It!

Our third production by UK's Tall Stories, this beautifully crafted three-hander uses dance, music and puppetry to tell Cressida Cowell's much loved tale. Tall Stories' adaptation whisks Emily, her rabbit and the spellbound audience through all the book's different adventures - taking our young audiences with them.

After STUCK's successful run here in 2014 - and many requests for it to return, we created a local-cast version with STUCK's creator and director Adam Bampton-Smith (UK's Big Wooden Horse)
directing Safia Hanifar and Aaron Teoh as Mum and Floyd with choregraphy by Farah Sulaiman. We'll look forward to getting STUCK again...!

This is the eighth time Blunderbus Theatre has come to us – and even with an extension of several days, this wonderful adaptation of Anna Kemp's book packed the theatre. Told with Blunderbus' customary blend of story telling, puppetry, songs, dance and audience involvement, several thousand primary-aged children joined the cast in pirouettes, jetés and arabesques!

UK's Blunderbus Theatre Company's sixth visit to KL with their wonderful production of Jill Tomlinson's best-selling classic book. Used to reassure generations of young children about the "scary" dark, this stage adaptation continues to show children that "the dark is fun" as they follow Plop, the baby barn owl, on his journeys into the night-time world of campfires, fireworks and moonlit adventures!?

With the support of British Council Malaysia, UK's Handlebards brought us our first Shakespeare! A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM was enormously successful, with some audience members returning more than once! Four young men played 22 characters – both male and female – with the entire play done in 90 breakneck minutes! We'll look forward to them coming back!

Fifteen years after its original KL production, we brought NUNSENSE back with Shanthini Venugopal in her original role as Mother Superior, plus Junji Delfino, Elvira Arul,
Nicole-Ann Thomas, Teresa Goh with Llew Marsh as Musical Director, and Dr. Joseph Gonzales as choreographer (just prior to his new position as Head of Academic Affairs at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts). We will miss him!

Once again, with the support of British Council Malaysia, UK's Handlebards brought us our second Shakespeare - MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. For the first time we included a tour to ACS Ipoh, marking 100 years since the school presented Malaya's first ever Shakespeare production!

UK's The Big Wooden Horse Theatre Company returned with Claire Freedman's MONSTERSAURUS. Adapted and directed by Adam Bampton-Smith and performed by Harrison Spiers; Mark Collier; and Sophie Steel. A very funny adaptation of the well-known book, it toured to Penang, Ipoh and several schools.

A tiny snail longs to see the world, so she hitches a lift on the tail of a humpback whale... all the way to Kuala Lumpur and Penang! Tall Stories Theatre UK brought us another wonderful show, which like The Gruffalo, was based on a much-loved book by Julia Donaldson. Adapted for the stage by Toby Mitchell, co-founder and joint artistic director of Tall Stories.

The SHEAR MADNESS Hair Salon, where YOU get to solve the murder, returned for its third round of baffling the
audience. Produced for Malaysia and performed by Phoon Chi Ho, Qahar Aqilah, Marina Tan, Junji Delfino, Na'a Murad, Alfred Loh, and Jason Leong, and directed by Richard Harding Gardner, it had audiences
returning yet again - just to see their favorite murderer get his/her just desserts.

After STUCK's successful run here in 2014 - and many requests for it to return, we created a local-cast version with STUCK's creator and director Adam Bampton-Smith (UK's Big Wooden Horse) directing Safia Hanifar and Aaron Teoh as Mum and Floyd with choregraphy by Farah Sulaiman. We'll look forward to getting STUCK again...!

For their fourth visit to us, Men In Tutus brought us Go For Barocco, The Harlequinade Pas De Deux, a whole flock of of swans, including
dueling Dying Swans, with the program culminating in Tchaikovsky's THE
NUTCRACKER with Artistic Director Victor Trevino as Clara!

The Big Wooden Horse Theatre Company's beautifully simple but totally engrossing version of Oliver Jeffers STUCK! Adapted for the stage by Adam Bampton-Smith and performed by the original UK cast, Sam Hoye and Grace Alexander-Scott, it entertained school audiences for three weeks both in Penang and PJ! The Big Wooden Horse's first show with us, but not their last!

UK's Big Wooden Horse returns with Mo Willems’ award-winning book with a show full of “fun, feathers, and laughter”. The friendly bus driver
leaves us with one simple instruction: "DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS!" Beautifully adapted and directed for the stage by Big Wooden Horse’s artistic director, Adam Bampton-Smith. They’ll be back in 2015!

The SHEAR MADNESS Hair Salon, where the audience gets to solve the murde! Produced for Malaysia and performed by Phoon Chi Ho, Qahar
Aqilah, Marina Tan, Junji Delfino, Na'a Murad and Jason Leong, and
directed by Richard Harding Gardner, it had some of the audiences
returning for a second or third time to play arm-chair detective! It will return!

UK's Blunderbus Theatre Company made their sixth visit to Malaysia with the inspirational story of a boy who loved the stars so much, he decided to catch one of his very own. Beautifully directed and adapted for the stage by artistic director, Bill Davies from the best-selling children's book by Oliver Jeffers.

What was once Gardner & Wife's first ever-ballet has become one of their most "when are they coming again" shows! Now back under the artistic guidance of the great Dying Swan, choreographer Victor Trevino, and with a brand-new name - Les Ballets Eloelle - they wowed audiences both in KL and Penang.

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood... and arrived in Malaysia before going on to London's West End, where the three actors will perform THE GRUFFALO for six weeks over Christmas. Tall Stories has wowed thousands of children since its 2001 debut at the Edinburgh Fringe. Directed by Olivia Jacobs, it wowed 'em here, too!

One of Gardner & Wife Theatre's favourites, New York City-based Jim West Puppets first came to us in 2007. This time a whole new generation of children sat fascinated as Jim West presented seven of Aesop's tales with his unique combination of
puppetry, humour, classical music and the hilarious antics of Moral the dog!

UK's Blunderbus Theatre Company made their fifth visit to KL, and their first to the new PAC Penang, with their production of Jill Tomlinson's best-selling classic book. Used to reassure generations of young children about the "scary" dark by joining Plop, the baby barn owl as he journeys into the night-time world of campfires, fireworks and moonlit adventures!

What can you say about a show which returns to Kuala Lumpur time and time again - and fills the theatre! Raj Varma again delighted audiences which his one-man tour de force. Raj flew from New York, where he now lives, to KL for the run, and then on to his home country, New Zealand, to star in a brand-new TV series. Success couldn't have happened to nicer man!

Fork's blockbusting show has been playing to sold out houses in Scandinavia, Russia, Edinburgh, the US - and they rocked the house when they came to us! One of the very few shows finishing with a standing ovation EVERY night, Fork was supremely polished, royally confident, and very funny! Check out the audience reaction to their Bohemian Rhapsody on YouTube 

One of Britain's best small opera companies brought us one of opera's best
known classics - Verdi's Opera LA TRAVIATA. Re-set in modern London, and performed in English, they received rave reviews (And here, too!) Performing at Penang Performing Arts Centre, PJ Live Arts, as well as to an Ipoh audience of over 800 as a fund-raiser for St. Andrew's Church, Ipoh. Musical instruments for the show were supplied by Roland Music Development Centre (Music School) at Jaya One.

Those Indian Guys' co-creator Tarun Mohanbhai returned for a one-week reprise of his one-man tour de force - starting his run, appropriately enough, to a capacity audience on Valentine's Day. Since its 2005 Asian debut in Kuala Lumpur, D'ARRANGED MARRIAGE has now been performed in five continents, including sold-out seasons in New York and London.

UK's Blunderbus Theatre Company made their third visit with their production of David McKee's ELMER THE ELEPHANT. Student groups from all over the Klang Valley and beyond joined their favourite patchwork pachyderm in his journey to self-discovery. Julia
Gabriel Centre for Learning sponsored one performance and treated the audience to special pre-show activities.

Gardner & Wife's first show to blatantly advertise itself as “guaranteed non-educational”. Coming fresh from sell-out shows and awards at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the 2010 Melbourne Comedy Festival, the Australian duo wowed Malaysian audiences with their "raw, raucous and ridiculously cool show for cool kids”!

Wining awards at both Adelaide and Edinburgh Festivals, Jeff Achtem has rethought both the tradition of puppetry and shadow puppets by allowing the audience “backstage”. Telling a series of stories, he transforms the assorted junk hanging around the stage into art. Literally drawing gasps from his audiences, he finished his short run here with a standing ovation!

UK's Blunderbus Theatre returned with the first show they brought out to us in 2008, but this time completely rewritten and redesigned. Yet again, the Faustin Charles adaptation got rave reviews with its giant puppetry, catchy songs, comedic characters - and above all, the company's tremendous ability to imaginatively interact with their young audiences.

Master puppeteer Jim West, along with "Puppet Man" Jeremy Wingle, returned to delight us with classical music, dino-puppet making ideas
and fun facts about dinosaurs. With not much more than a few old cardboard boxes and some great music, kept our young audiences
enraptured! And taught them THE best way to recycle cardboard!

Gardner & Wife took LES BALLETS GRANDIVA'S MEN IN TUTUS on a three week, three-country tour - to Dr. Sun Yat Sen Hall in Taipei, KLPAC in Malaysia and the 1,800-seat Esplanade Theatre in Singapore where they performed to full houses and enthusiastic audiences. Some clips from the program are here.

Gardner & Wife's first production at the new PJ Live Arts theatre welcomed the return of Blunderbus Theatre Company. With flights sponsored by Gulf Air, the show performed to almost 5,000 children. Its success also extended to bookseller partner Roving Books selling out its entire
stock of GIRAFFES CAN'T DANCE books.

Gardner & Wife's most "when-are-they-coming-back-again" show, came back for a three-week run with their two new cast
members, Kit Massey and Flora Allison, led by Jon Regan. On Monday 11th Y.A.M. Tunku Naquiyuddin ibni Tuanku Ja'afar and
Haji Abd Jalil Hj Borhanuddin hosted a charity performance to raise money for The NS Wanderers Rugby Club. Pluck is back and oh, how I have missed them. The Star 10 Oct 2010

Barry and Stuart's WICKED WIZARDS in their Asian premiere, wow-ed, perplexed, and offended our audiences in exactly
the correct ratio as they performed wonderfully weird, dark magic, and
collected a few thousand more fans! Check them out on YouTube if you want a taste - and convince friends they're psychic!

Gardner & Wife's first ever ballet proved again that genuine artistry mixed with comedy is irresistible! Generating standing ovations and encores the dancers performed five ballets in two acts, including the company's signature piece, the parody of Fokine's The Dying Swan. They will return to KL in January, 2010.

With support from Mox-Linde, the resident scientist of the UK Sky TV's "Brainiac" and "Blue Peter", returned to delight and terrify obth children and adults with his
combination of science & stage comedy. This time the emphasis was on
rocket science which generated explosions and rocked the theatre!

Gardner & Wife took LES BALLETS GRANDIVA'S MEN IN TUTUS on a three week, three-country tour - to Dr. Sun Yat Sen Hall in Taipei, KLPAC in Malaysia and the 1,800-seat Esplanade Theatre in Singapore where they performed to full houses and enthusiastic audiences. Clips from The Esplanade performances here on Vimeo

Our first season of theatre for young audiences kicked off with the Blunderbus Theatre Company's stage adaptation of best-selling children's
book by Faustin Charles. The show received rave reviews and saw audiences of all ages respond
enthusiastically to their giant puppetry, catchy songs and comedic
characters.

This tribute musical featuring songs of the 1950s raised over RM350k for the Kasih Hospice Care Society and Drati Khangtsen Monastery in India at the charity premiere held at One World Hotel. It subsequently ran for three weeks at The Actors Studio @ Bangsar Shopping Centre.

On their third visit to Kuala Lumpur, the mime duo presentedtheir new shows "Rock 'n Roll Penguin" and "Western" to both critical acclaim and box office success. Their now annual appearances have now led to a fast-growing fan base here in Malaysia.

Award-winning Edinburgh Puppet State Theatre made theirAsian debut with performances of Jean Giono's classic story. The show received
rave reviews from critics and audiences of all ages.

New York's Jim West Puppets returned with AESOP'S FABLES II. Once again, Moral the dog was a favourite among children and their parents as he told the stories of The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, The Oak and the Reed, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Lion and his Councillors, and The Stargazer.

Canadian singer Gabrielle Maes made her Malaysian debut in Stephen Temperley's SOUVENIR: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins. Directed by Richard Harding Gardner, the two-man Broadway comedy also starred Llew Marsh as the faithful pianist-sidekick. The production won The BOH Cameronian Arts Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Since their first visit, Ketch & Hiro-pon are one of Gardner & Wife's most requested shows. Winning several new awards, including Best International Act 2006 at the Brighton Fringe Festival, they returned to Malaysia directly from another successful season at the World Buskers Festival in New Zealand.

This return engagement saw an unprecedented 6-week run, making its 44 performances Malaysia's longest-running show. It opened the inaugural Putrajaya Arts Festival and played to large enthusiastic audiences at the 600-seat Auditorium Perbadanan Putrajaya in the country's administrative capital.

The return engagement of D'ARRANGED MARRIAGE was performed by one-half of "Those Indian Guys" - Rajeev Varma - and played for three weeks. This popular one-man
show continued to receive rave reviews from both critics and audiences alike.

New York City-based Jim West Puppets debuted in Asia with a three-week run. Master puppeteer and author Jim West presented seven of Aesop's tales and delighted young audiences and their families with his unique combination of puppetry, humour, classical music and the hilarious antics of Moral the dog!

Gardner & Wife's first show from Asia created tremendous word-of-mouth excitement, playing to frequent standing ovations thus proving why this "shut up comedy" won top comedy awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival two years running – Best Dubble Act 2004 and the Tap
Water Award 2005.

This Singaporean cabaret performed to enthusiastic fans of Hossan Leong and Selena Tan – winner of Best Comedy Actress at the Asian Television Awards in 2004 & 2005. This was a co-production with Singapore's The Dream Academy.

Gardner & Wife's second co-production with Singapore's The Dream Academy, and our first non-English language show. Sebastian Tan and his three "chio bu"s (chorus girls) performed mostly in the Hokkien dialect.

This show was a departure for Gardner & Wife with Bruce Kuhn's remarkable dramatisation of the Biblical chapter
created a unique theatrical combination of sacred literature and acting
prowess.

"The Specialists" saw the return of UK string trio PLUCK back in Kuala Lumpur for a three-week engagement. The award-winning
Edinburgh Fringe favourites delighted old and new fans with their irreverent mix of music and comedy.

This rugby comedy in co-production with the Embassy of Ireland received a standing ovation at the Irish Ambassador’s Gala and a very enthusiastic response during its two weeks run. Its award-winning writer & director John Breen also conducted a Q&A for a school audience in the first week.

The "resident scientist" of Sky TV's "Brainiac" television programme, Tom Pringle aka Dr Bunhead, delighted both children and adults alike with his unusual combination of science trivia & stage comedy. He also re-created his Guinness World Record-winning stunt of making the fastest potato chips in town!

Our first kiwi show was also the first to extend its run! Direct from a sell-out season at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival, they performed D'ARRANGED MARRIAGE to packed houses for one week, followed by two weeks of its prequel, FROM INDIA WITH LOVE.

Gardner & Wife's first production for children came directly from two seasons in London's West End. The “universe's first stand-up comic for kids” was our first South-East Asian tour of Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya and Singapore.

Recipient of Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play, this was our second West End show, co-produced with the Embassy of Ireland to celebrate Ireland's 2004 Presidency of the European Union. Actors Sean Sloan and Kieran Lagan received a standing ovation, and went on to a week of full houses.

The U.S. cast of our second co-production with The Embassy of the United States of America raised over RM400K for the Tunku Nurul Hayati Foundation at the royal charity premiere graced by the Yang DiPertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, HRH Tuanku Ja’afar and his consort, HRH Tunku Najihah.

Coming directly from their third sell-out season at the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, PLUCK performed "Musical Arson" for two weeks to packed houses. Winner of the prestigious Tap Water Award at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe Festival premiered as a charity performance for the National Cancer Society.

The first three performances of this show were charity fundraisers for Calvary Life Ministries. With original music and lyrics composed by Patrick Jonathan plus 3 Romanian-made puppets courtesy of London’s Theatre Centre, this local-cast production played for more than three weeks over Christmas.

Co-produced by Gardner & Wife and Singapore theatre company, iTheatre. Performed at Alliance Française Singapore, with Chae Lian as the feisty dog, Sean Yeo, John Faulkner and Bridget Therese.

Gardner & Wife's production of the Stephen Sondheim show starred the irrepressible Chef Wan and a cast of seventeen. Despite competition from the mega-musical Fame, the show drew favourable reviews for British musical director, Simon Grey, and his excellent work with the all-Malaysian nine-piece orchestra.

The all-American cast for the three-time Tony Award-winningFats Waller musical AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' filled Dewan Sri Pinang as part of the YTL-Penang ArtsFestival before returning to The Parkroyal for a ten-day run. The cast were also invited to sing at the U.S. Embassy's Fourth of July celebrations.

Alan Ayckbourn's RELATIVELY SPEAKING starred Malaysian film star Sofia Jane and West End actor Nick Barnes. The production represented several firsts: the first sale of theatre tickets online and the first West End actor to be hired by a local theatre company.

For this musical comedy, American musical director, Holland Jancaitis was brought in. With choreography by Dr. Joseph Gonzales (Head of Dance, Akademi Seni Kebangsaan), it broke every then-existing box-office record by playing to 6,500 people over the course of three-and-a-half-weeks.

Restaged with an entirely new cast, including Louisa Chong (2+1,Jangan Ketawa), Zaibo (Under One Roof, Spanar Jaya), Manomaniam (Kopitiam, Anna and The King), Manesh Nesaratnam (All Mixed Up) and Taj (pop group Innuendo). Rashid Salleh returned to the cast but this time playing the lead

The first show produced and directed by the future Gardner& Wife, CHARLEY’S AUNTIE! was completely rewritten and updated from Oxford University 1892 to Malaya circa 1965. Starring film and TV actors Azean
Irdawaty, Indi Nadarajah, JoannaBessey, Rashid Salleh and Benji.