Handspring Puppet Company was founded in Cape Town in 1981 by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, Jill Joubert and Jon Weinberg. The company's original focus was the creation of new South African plays for children. However, Handspring had always felt the challenge of developing an adult audience for the theatre of puppets and the first step in this unmarked territory was Episodes of an Easter Rising in 1985, setting the arc for all their future theatre work.

Their first international success came in 1991 with Starbrites! directed by Barney Simon, which toured to Europe and had a London season. In '92 they began work with the artist William Kentridge. Their first collaboration, Woyzeck on the Highveld won many awards in South Africa and was highly acclaimed at festivals around the world. Since then, the company has collaborated with William Kentridge on several other multi-media productions.

War Horse, the show they created in association with the National Theatre in London has garnered them several awards including the Olivier Award for Design and The Evening Standard Award for Design. It is currently in its 2nd season.

Several new projects are currently going through development stages. 

Quaternaire represents Handspring Puppet Company within Europe.