UPDATES
ON PUPPETEERS AND COMPANIES
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Small
Beginnings
Small
Beginnings community arts group are about
to launch their Tall Tales Project, funded
by Awards for All. The project will enable
young people to try their hand at designing
and building a series of community puppets
and props. The set of large processional
puppets, representing the town and figures
from the 1457 siege of Sandwich, will accompany
the town's giant at community events. They
will make their first outing at the town's
medieval celebrations in August 2006.
Ten
Tall Tales workshops are currently being
held on Tuesday afternoons at the Sandwich
Technology School, and are open to young
people aged 11 +. For more information contact
James and Sonia of Small Beginnings on 01304
617335 or email puppetmaster@theatreofthesmall.co.uk
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Norwich
Puppet Theatre
 Norwich
Puppet Theatre is one only two dedicated
puppet theatre's in England. The Theatre's
own company performs regularly at the venue
and on tour. They recently took their
production of Jack & the Beanstalk to
the Mukamas Festival in Tampere, Finland.
The
Summer programme of activities at Norwich
Puppet Theatre brings workshops and shows
galore - from Tom Thumb to George and the
Dragon, and Fish's Wishes to Little Red
Riding Hood, with the main summer season
filled with performances of Emperor's New
Clothes. Workshops for children plus a session
for adults in July complement the programme.
For further information email info@puppettheatre.co.uk Full details of all events are available
on the Norwich Puppet Theatre website www.puppettheatre.co.uk
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 On
the Other Hand - Ken Haines
The
Henry VIII Show, which has just received
an Arts Council Grant, features one king,
six queens and a dog called Stanley! The
company's new show premiered at Central
Studio, Basingstoke in April 2006. This unique show tells Henry VIII's story
in his own words, with the ghosts of his
Queens and principal courtiers., coming
back to haunt him. Oh and his dog gets in
on the act tooÉ The show features two actors,
a host of puppets, specially composed music
and stunning historically accurate costumes.
It is vividly entertaining with a mixture
of high drama and low comedy. It's primarily
aimed at schools but the company are also
now receiving bookings from venues. See
www.ontheotherhand.em8z.com
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Pickled
Image - in Norway.
 Pickled
Image have just returned from a six week
residency at the Norland Visual Theatre
in Stamsund on the lofoten Islands off the
North West coast of Norway, where they built
Houdini's Suitcase, a full length theatre
show for adults. The show is about the memories
of an old time entertainer and one time
apprentice to Harry Houdini and contains
a cast of eccentric characters and heartrending
moments of beauty and comedy. The show has
been directed by Emma Lloyd of Stickleback
Plasticus. Houdini's Suitcase was premiered
on the 28th of April to great praise and
returned to Stamsund for their international
theatre festival in June. The company will
then be performing it at the this year's
Festival Mondial des Théâtres
de Marionnettes in Charleville on 20 September
following their family show The Chatterbox
on the 19th. They don't stop there either!
On 21-22 Sept they will be performing around
the town with the Marvellous Box of Peeps
& Delights. They will be touring The
Chatterbox in venues around the UK through
the Autumn & Winter, before taking Houdini's
Suitcase on the road in 2007.
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Movingstage
 Movingstage,
operators of a marionette theatre on a converted
eighty-ton river barge, will be touring
the river, for the 24th year in succession,
from July to October 2006. They will present
a matinee show, Brer Rabbit and the Tarbaby,
plus on Saturday evenings Bottom's Dream
by Shakespeare. Following the tour the barge
will be moored at Little Venice in central
London. The season will open with a special
Xmas and New Year production, Joey's Circus
Comes to Town starring Punch and friends,
especially written for Movingstage by Glyn
Edwards. The year 2007 sees our 25th anniversary
and we shall be mounting an adult season
in London, in conjunction with the Joseph
Conrad Society, of Out of the Heart of Darkness.
Details of performances and the company
can be found at: www.puppetbarge.com/
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Josh
Elwell's Bird in the Hand - a true story
of the Victorian Circus
Roll
Up! Roll Up! Step right this way! Josh Elwell
and Company present
 a
merry carnival of comical cockatoos! Josh
& Co are really pleased to have been
awarded a grant from ACE for their new project
Bird in the Hand. The show will be based
on the true story of Josh's great- grandmother-in-law
who travelled with Barnum & Bailey in
the early 1900s with her act Irma Orbasany
and her performing Cockatoos! The show will
be in the style of the Victorian sideshow
and will be directed by renowned puppeteer
Martin Bridle of Hand to Mouth. Puppets
will be made by Rebecca Elwell and Nino
Namitcheishvili from The Basement Theatre
Tiblisi Georgia. Nino will be working in
England over the summer both on this project
and with Lost and Found. Music will be written
and performed by Jeremy Avis from The Shout.
This exciting new collaboration will be
touring arts centres, theatres and village
halls from the autumn. A full list of venues
will be posted on the website www.joshelwell.f2s.com/birdinthehand.html
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Freehand
Theatre
 Freehand
Theatre's production for 3 to 7 year olds,
Little Red You-Know-Who, has been travelling
far and wide and highlights include a week
in August at the Little Angel Marionette
Theatre, performances at the Dublin International
Puppetry Festival in September and shows
at the Take Off Festival in October. For
this production the company collaborated
with composer Hugh Nankivell to create a
beautiful sound score. The use of natural
wood combined with the vivid qualities of
the colour red provides the visual aesthetic.
Following a period of Research and Development
funded by the Arts Council, which has enabled
Lizzie Allen and Simon Hatfield to take
time to explore fresh possibilities for
their work, the company will soon begin
work on a new production.
For
further information see Freehand Theatre's
recently launched website www.freehandtheatre.co.uk
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Object
Dart
Objects
Dart's new show The Enormous Turnip has
now been running for a month very successfully
and was recently performed at the Bruton
Arts Festival to a sold-out house, alongside
Objects Dart's ever-green Little Red Riding
Hood, now in its fourth year and as captivating
to the audience as it was when first performed
in 2002/2003 in Lambeth and at the Little
Angel Theatre. They also ran two very successful
workshops around operating/bringing to life
your puppet/object and also exploring shadow
puppets. Future plans-for the summer: Objects
Dart are doing Punch and Judy around
London's
green spaces (new show) and are planning
a nativity play for
Christmas
which will be made and designed by Drew
Colby and Michele
Petit-Jean
of Magic Book, and is inspired by the shadow-puppet-like
effect of stained glass windows, but may
also incorporate glove puppets.
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Nutmeg
Puppet Company's award for show for Elders
 Nutmeg
have received £5000 from Awards for All
towards producing a new show designed specially
for older people, to tour residential homes
& rural venues in East Anglia. It's
based on the life of John Knowlittle, a
naturalist, showman and journalist, who
combined a love and understanding of the
natural world with showmanship & artistic
skills. The story is about observation,
and how to cope with the loss or impairment
of the senses. The soundtrack will include
birdsong, children's voices, songs &
natural sounds of the marshes. We will offer
accompanying practical activities and there
will be a booklet of the show. They also
touring Heatwave, a show about climate change,
to outdoor venues in the Norfolk and Suffolk
Broads this summer, and in schools in the
autumn.This has been funded by the Broads
Authority Sustainable Development Fund with
a grant from DEFRA. For further information,
contact the company. Tel: (01502) 478999
email info@nutmegpuppet.co.uk See www.nutmegpuppet.co.uk
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Nathan
Evans
Nathan
is the creator of HEAVEN KNOWS I'M MISERABLE
NOW - a musical inspired by the songs of
The Smiths for casio-keyboard and puppets
- WOW! - a recreation with puppets of Kate
Bush's last live gig - ROCK'N'ROLL SUICIDE - the puppetry promo
Bowie never made - PUNCH & JUDE - a
new take on the puppetry classic for homosexual
boys and girls - and RATHER BE DEAD THAN
GAY - an ironic look at gay culture through
his own sexual and romantic disasters -
and ALIENATHAN. His latest is ATOMIC (or
Love Is So Confusing) - a spectacular on
a shoestring with big blonde ambitions -
created in collaboration with Polly Wiseman.
We've had Abba, The Musical, we've had Madness,
The Musical, we've even had Rod Stewart,
The Musical, and now we bring you Blondie,
The Musical! Atomic is a story of sexual
discovery set against the backdrop of Punk
Rock and New York City.
ATOMIC
premieres as part of Outbites, Oval House,
52-54 Kennington Oval, London SE11 on 5
July. Nathan then tours internationally (Barcelona, LA, Texas, Suffolk!) throughout
the summer with ROCK'N'ROLL SUICIDE and
PUPPETRY OF THE POPS. ATOMIC can be seen
this coming autumn at
Duckie, The Royal Vauxhall Tavern,
London SE11 on 18 Nov 11pm For full details
see www.nathanevans.co.uk
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BlueBoat
commissioned to make Spookmaster
BlueBoat has been commissioned by Southampton
Live to create a unique, small-scale, outdoor
storytelling performance, Spookmaster which
will premiere at the Southampton Live Street
Theatre Festival on the 22 July 2006. Set
in a spooky, Gothic mausoleum, the participants
will enter a theatrical 'coffin' which
is in fact a miniature performance space
designed for an audience of one. Inside
the participant will be told a supernatural
story through the use of soundscape, miniature
puppet worlds and animated sculptural elements.
The performance is aiming to create a modern
twist on side-show scary rather than being
truly frightening! Above all, BlueBoat wants
a performance that's intriguing for the
onlookers and for those who enter, a darkly
humorous combination of storytelling, puppetry
and animation. BlueBoat was established
in 1999, directed by Mark Pen?ak with design
by Eliza Gilchrist, BlueBoat makes performances
that have a strong sense of story combined
with visual elements such as puppets, film
and specially constructed props, sets and
effects. Email blueboat@freeuk.com See www.blue-boat.org
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Lost
& Found Theatre
Lost
& Found Theatre presents The Lost Moon,
which is based on an old folk tale from
the Lincolnshire Fens. Written and performed
by Mandy Travis; directed by Nino Namitcheishvili;
live music composed and performed by Hannah
Marshall.
 The
Lost Moon features puppetry, performance
and live music devised originally by members
of The Little Angel Theatre who created
Jabberwocky and The Mouse Queen, now in
collaboration with Nino Namitcheishvili,
founder member of The Georgian Puppeteers'
Club at The Basement Theatre in Tbilisi,
Georgia. Mandy Travis and Nino Namitcheishvili
are now working on the final production
of The Lost Moon, which will premiere at
the Mill Studio, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre,
Guildford on 31 August, then tour to various
venues in September and October including
The Nightingale, Brighton The Lighthouse
in Poole and Tower Arts Centre in Winchester.
It then has a run at The Little Angel Theatre,
London, 10-28 October.
Mandy
has written about the creation of this show
in her >
From the Frontline artist's diary in
this e-dition of Animations!
Target
audience: 10+ to adult; running time: 1hr
- no interval
For
further information, contact Tamsin Thomas,
administrator on 07742 611634. Email info@lostandfoundtheatre.co.uk
For
more information on the company see www.lostandfoundtheatre.co.uk
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NEWS
FROM OTHER ARTS ORGANISATIONS
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More
Lilliputian Memories, Please!
The
National Trust's Museum of Childhood, at
Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire, is looking for
more information about Edward Hellawell's
marionettes. He donated a large collection
when the Lilliput Marionette Theatre finished,
but, till now, very few have been out on
display However, the Museum is now planning
a major re-design of their display in 2007
that will include more of the marionettes,
in a section on Stories and Rhymes. To this
end they are looking for as much information
as possible about the stories and the characters
of the plays performed. Besides Lilliput's
Faust, Christmas Carol, Little Mermaid,
Lost Princess and Hansel and Gretel, there
are also characters that Edward Hellawell
may have made to perform elsewhere. Any
information given to the Trust already will,
of course, have been recorded. But the research
team is now hoping to find much more. If
there is anyone who thinks that they can
remember details of the stories and might
be able to identify puppets in the Trust's
collection, please contact: Helen Subden,
Documentation Assistant (Curatorial Team)
Tel: 01283 585337 or Email Helen.Subden@nationaltrust.org.uk
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Obelon
Arts The Singing Storycloth
 Obelon
Arts' latest project is a book for 3-7+
year olds and their teachers: The Singing
Storycloth - song-stories from around the
world with activities for puppetry and music.
This book, which Obelon have been working
on over the last year, has just been published
by A&C Black (ISBN 0-7136-7193-9).
It's a resource for primary school teachers
and children. The company worked with international
storyteller Helen East, who sourced tales
and songs from around the world which would
be suitable both for a book and for puppetry
performance. The book consists of eight
stories, each with accompanying activities
for puppetry and music written by Liz Waugh
McManus and Janet Koralambe of Obelon. The
book has been designed so that teachers
may use the stories, music and puppetr independently
or combine them into a performance by the
children. The theme of fabric is central
to the tales from Nigeria, Scotland, India,
China, America, Zimbabwe, Mexico and Lithuania.
Included in the book are two audio
CDs with the stories and the songs. Five
of the stories from the book appear in Obelon's
latest show, also called The Singing Storycloth,
which is touring theatres and schools. Schools
have already used the show to launch cross-curricular
projects using the book.
For
further information see www.obelon.co.uk and www.acblack.com
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The
Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre
 if
you are looking for puppet books, don't
forget to visit the online bookshop at www.maskandpuppetbooks.co.uk.
A new addition to their children's books
is Puppetry - Discovering Other Cultures
by Meryl Doney. This is a delightful children's
book which shows how to make simple puppets
inspired from puppets around the world.
Scottish
Mask and Puppet Centre
8-10
Balcarres Ave,
Kelvindale,
Glasgow
G12 0QF
Tel.
0141 339 6185
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TRAINING
AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Intensive
in Advanced Model Making at Rose Bruford
 Calling
all designers, animators and other industry
professionals! Rose Bruford College in Sidcup
is pleased to offer a five-day intensive
course in Advanced Model Making this summer.
The course will be led by David Neat, a
professional model maker with 23 years experience
in theatre, film, 3D design, architecture
and exhibitions. He is also a practicing
sculptor and qualified teacher, including
at Rose Bruford College and Wimbledon School
of Art where he teaches on the Technical
Arts and Special Effects and Set Design
for Stage and Screen courses. The course
will run from Monday 10th July to Friday
15th July 2006. The course will cost £80
per person plus a small surcharge of £10
for the provision of materials to be used
in the practical exercises. This makes
an overall total of £90 per person. For
more details or to reserve a place, email
enquiries@theatrefutures.org.uk
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