The centre commissioned Tim and Nathalie Bevitt, aka Mr. Tim Enterprises, at the beginning of the year to work with children on the theme of recovery.

No one knew then just how much art would end up imitating life in House Planet: A Discovery of Recovery, the Musical.

In this production, Labratorians are experimenting with an emotions machine when an explosion transports them to Plant World. They become embroiled in a coup against the evil and irritating ruler, Carwoot Orange. Chaos also reins in Fridgelandia, Scrubtopia and Loungeroomia, because of a supposed "big bang"

COVID lockdowns have meant it's taken nine months for the production to come to fruition, through online and live collaboration and rehearsals.

In their productions, Mr. Tim Enterprises invites children to explore what a theme means to them; Tim and Nathalie were amazed at the variety of topics raised the children raised.

"We called it the discovery of recovery because it was so typical of everything we were actually going through," says Tim.

"A lot of them were talking about the bushfires. So that was still very fresh in the minds of everybody. Sometimes they talked about simple things, like a broken limb, and how that can affect your life.

"And of course, the other big thing that they were talking about was climate change, and the effects of recovering with the information that we have, where we are at with it currently, and what it will mean for them as adults and for their children.".

Nathalie was particularly impressed with the children's understanding of the world.

"It's why we do this - it's about giving children of that age a voice because they have so much to say," she says.

"We're always amazed by how much they know and how unchildlike they are, in that they are not just reading children books. It's quite profound what they come up with."

Tim says because musical theatre incorporates singing, dancing, and acting, children really get to expand their experiences. His philosophy is to let the children own their characters, to work with the stage crew and develop their social skills.

"As we all know, humans learn best through play, and we can't think of a better way to do it," he says.

Tim and Nathalie have an impressive support crew including artists Daniel Streatfield, Chelsea Heaney, Hanna Hoyne and Ed Radclyffe, who provide the children with skill development in costume, set and props design.

Radcliffe's brief was to make props as recyclable as possible, so the entire set is made from cardboard. Among the sets is a time-travelling machine which ingests raw emotions, a gigantic ship, castles, cardboard pillows.

Tim Bevitt's journey into the world of children's theatre began after he studied classical piano at the ANU School of Music, then teaching children's choirs.

With a diploma in education, he taught performing arts in primary schools before starting his own business. In 2005, he began what he calls "extravaganza" programs - going into a school for four days and putting on a public performance of original material involving hundreds of children.

He met Frenchwoman Nathalie while they were both on holiday in Canada, and she joined the extravaganza program 10 years ago.

Together as Mr. Tim Enterprises, they have a family choir at Ainslie Arts Centre, as well as community choirs and a band, Mr. Tim and the Fuzzy Elbows.