That led to friendship and financial support – the Hunsteads became donors to Shaun Parker & Company, giving $25,000 a year, which was matched through Creative Partnerships Australia’s Plus One program in 2022. This year, all donations up to $25,000 will be matched again by the Hunsteads, which will then be matched again by the company’s global partner in New York. (The couple also donated $1.4 million in 2017 from the sale of their house to the Sydney Institute for Astronomy to support the next generation of astrophysicists.)
Bulgarian counter-tenor Ivo Dimchev In rehearsal for ‘King’ ahead of WorldPride in Sydney. Dominic Lorrimer
In 2019, the donations made it possible for King to tour to Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Austria (albeit with reduced nudity for the Middle East and a new name for the show, Little Big Man, to respect cultural sensitivities). Having reprised the show post-COVID for WorldPride, in June it will tour with 10 dancers to Germany, Luxembourg and Italy. And in every city, Hunstead will have designed and organised the jungle set.
“Penny researches, then photographs and documents the plans, and sends them through ahead of our arrival,” says Parker. “In the Middle East we had palms and banana plants, figs and monsteras. The audience identified with the story more because the set was their landscape.”
A puppet-master presides over nine male dancers in a cocktail bar that becomes a jungle. Prudence Upton
For Hunstead, becoming a set designer in her late 70s has been an unanticipated pleasure, and has helped her manage the grief of losing Richard in 2020, after a short illness. The solo gardening business she started in 1981 has helped, too.
“I’m in my garden or someone else’s garden every day, and it’s extremely healing,” she says. “I think the impact of those plants on the dancers is also evident. They told me how much they enjoyed moving in and out of those real plants, and I think that feeling could have amplified the authenticity of the performance.”