Anyone who knows the exuberant, colourful drawings of Queensland artist Tim Sharp, with their joyous, quirky take on life, will wonder a little at the rather restrained start to Laser Beak Man, the brand new show inspired by his artwork including the superhero he first drew when he was 11. But wait and see – there is method in the madness.

Laser Beak Man

The show begins with a hole in a large black wall in which we watch puppeteers with smallish puppets set up the story of Laser Beak Man. We meet Beaky at kindergarten where he becomes friends with Peter Bartman and Emily, and then onto university where someone invents environmentally friendly magna crystals that can power the whole world for free.

When a crystal malfunction threatens to blow everyone to smithereens, Beaky tries to intervene and finds himself turned into a gentle superhero who can fly and fire lasers that can turn bad things into good, leaving rainbows behind him wherever he goes.

With his new powers, the silent Beaky becomes known as Laser Beak Man. And suddenly in a coup de théâtre, the stage is...