The Dark at the Top of the Stairs is a rich journey into the wilderness of the imagination, seamlessly integrating puppetry with projected image, physical performance, original music and text.

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The Dark began with an exploration of the figure of the lost child that has haunted the Australian imagination since colonisation. ​It took its audiences on a dense and filmic journey into one woman's inner world, and her struggle to make sense of often contradictory memories and thoughts. Carla breaks down on the side of a road surrounded by bushland.  As she makes her way through the scrub to her parents home, she is confronted by childhood memories.  She tries to fill gaps and create a narrative for the unexplained disappearance of her sister long ago. 

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The Dark is full of strong visual memories realised with marionettes that are viewed through a scrim projection screen which frames the whole work; a confrontation around a china cabinet; a life size naked gypsy with no legs; a present that reveals a insect; drowning in water; a father that is often away taking photographs in the bush; and a mother that has frayed at the seams. We experience Carla's fragmented journey as she struggles with the human need to make sense of her inner life.  The Dark brings marionettes into contemporary theatre.