PAW Patrol Live! The Great Pirate Adventure at AIS Arena

By Ron Cerabona

When Peri Jenkins was growing up in Weston Creek and attending Canberra Girls' Grammar School, she was interested in fashion. She's turned it to good use in her career, having worked for several years at the Australian Ballet as a maker and for the past two years with Life Like Touring as a designer, maker and head of wardrobe.

Since last year, she's been travelling as head of wardrobe with the new stage show PAW Patrol Live! The Great Pirate Adventure which is coming to Canberra in May. She's travelled with it to New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Russia.

"When I was in Russia I fitted the Russian cast - we had a translator."

Based on the animated TV series PAW Patrol, the show sees canine heroes Chase the police German shepherd, Marshall the fire Dalmatian, Rubble the construction dog, Skye the flying rescue cockerpoo, Rocky the recycling mongrel and Zuma the water rescue labrador save Cap'n Turbot from a cave and discover a secret pirate treasure map. Following it leads them on an epic adventure to find the treasure for Mayor Goodway and Adventure Bay but rival Mayor Humdinger of Foggy Bottom wants to find it first.

The pups get help from the newest dog who's all ears - Tracker - and use their rescue skills, problem solving abilities and teamwork to save the day.

Jenkins says, "I'm responsible for maintaining the show, the fit of the show and the character based 'cast' for children."

The costumes can't have tears or rips in them as that would, in addition to decreasing their longevity, spoil the illusion on stage for the audience, who typically range in age from infants to about nine or 10.

"There are jokes for adults but mostly adults are enjoying it because the kids are enjoying it so much."

The PAW Patrol members are giant four-legged puppets made in the US by a company named VStar in Minneapolis.

"Last two of the people from there came out and we had a workshop where they taught me how to do everything with the costumes. I've put one on once," Jenkins says, adding that it's tricky being "so far behind" the character and trying to control all its functions.

"It's harder than it looks."

They are worn by the performers who stand in the front legs of the dogs and control the mechanisms inside the heads.

"The kids in the audience are in front of their bodied and can see the performers' heads over the dogs - they wear the same hats as the dogs."

Yet somehow it doesn't seem to matter. The performers vocalise live - there are no prerecorded tracks - and Jenkins says she's impressed by the energy levels of the performers and their ability to sing and dance in the moment despite the challenges posed by the costumes.

"The have very big feet on so there's extra length to contend with and the costumes do get very warm with three shows a day."

While there's only one of each outside part of the dog costumes, each performers has three sets of the unitard and jumpsuit they wear inside, washed in rotation.

Jenkins originally began studying Arts and Asian Studies at the Australian National University but when she was invited by friends to see the Phillipe Genty show Land's End at the Canberra Theatre with its mix of theatre. puppetry and dance, something changed.

"I'd never seen something like it in my life," she says.

She and her friends invited members of the Genty company to a barbecue and got talking - "It was a real eye-opener". She ended up leaving university - "I wasn't really enjoying it" - and working in Addicted to Fabric, a shop in Phillip, for a while before going back to university as a mature-age studenrt, this time at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga studying theatre and TV design and getting involved in set design and costume.

"I ended up really enjoying it."

After graduating in 2010, she gained an internship at the Australian Ballet and was offered a job as costumier. The first production she worked on was The Merry Widow.

"It was mindblowing ... one of the best things ever."

She worked on about 30 productions in the next six years before moving to Life Like Touring in 2016 where she worked on such shows as Scooby-Doo, Sesame Street and Peppa Pig. And, of course, the PAW Patrol shows.

After this Australian tour, Jenkins will accompany the original PAW Patrol on a six-week tour of China.

"It's the first time I'll have gone to China - that'll be really fun. Who knows where PAW Patrol is going to take us?"