In 1985 Branson, Ross Cameron, John Utans, and Patrick Troy founded Splinters Theatre of Spectacle which had its origins in mediaevalist antics in Canberra's inner north.
Early Splinters performances were at a now-demolished weatherboard cottage in Downer, and the Causeway Hall at Kingston, as well as backyards in the inner north.
His Ribbons of Steel used a mix of archival material, interpretive art, sculpture and photographic exhibits, to mark the closure of BHP's Newcastle Steelworks.
[3] He also directed works by Daniel Keene, Grahame Henderson, Alison Croggon, Geire Kami and Christos Tsiolkas.
200 people attended his funeral at St Margaret's Uniting Church in Hackett, the inner-north suburb of Canberra where he grew up.