A Life In The Theatre

Not many wombats are lucky enough to have a career, but Wombbiii (he's changed the spelling of his name recently, in order to stay 'relevant' - it's a fickle world) has done the hard yards and risen through the ranks to become one of the most acclaimed thespians in the marsupial world - second only to Skippy (of Skippy fame - 1960s) and possibly Fatso The Wombat (of A Country Practice - 1970s). So third... That's still pretty good.
He's overcome many difficulties in his time - lack of opposable thumbs proved an almost insurmountable difficulty during his brief flirtation with legerdemain and the complete absence of legs (and therefore of feet) made tap dancing rather a challenge.
A multi-lingual actor (speaking both human and marsupial), Wombbiii spent many years in puppet repertory, often playing multiple roles, chorus parts, filling in as prompt or lighting desk operator and generally learning the ropes and 'earning his stripes'. He quickly mastered the terminology - terms like 'cyclorama', 'proscenium', 'rheostat' and 'motivation' falling off his tongue as if he were born to say them. His charisma and his quirky sense of humour made him popular with the other puppets, but it was his talent for characterisation that ultimately brought him to the attention of audiences.
Now in his 20th year (a considerable age for a wombat), he shows few signs of ageing and has no intention of retiring any time soon. Here he is rehearsing for an upcoming production of Julius Caesar, in which he will once again play the title role. "Caesar has a fair few words to remember and you do have to get them in the right order, but it's a lot easier than Lear, because I don't have to worry about keeping the crown from falling off during the loony bits." He says.
When asked how he felt, in retrospect, about choosing a life in the theatre, rather than a life of grazing and burrowing, like his forbears, he said: "It's been meaningful."