Animations is a quarterly online magazine run by the Puppet Centre Trust. It is a voice for contemporary puppetry and related arts, offering discussion and debate, reviews, and news from the puppet community and elsewhere. It’s an essential read for anyone interested in puppetry in all its diverse manifestations. Animations Online aims to represent the full spectrum of professional practice, from traditional puppetry to experimental visual theatre using puppetry or animation.

In this edition, we bring you a mix of features, reviews, and news that reflects our commitment to puppetry of all sorts.

The extended Reviews & Round-ups section takes us to festivals across the country and beyond – to Skipton, Bristol, Charleville-Mezieres, Santander, and to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Also related to this year’s Fringe is Sound and Vision, a feature by musician and artist James F Foster on music and puppetry. Then there’s a preview of the Suspense festival written by its director, Peter Glanville. There are also not one but two articles that reflect on the Forkbeard Fantasy Summer School – Make and Do by Dorothy Max Prior, and A Few Things I Know by Estelle Rosenfeld, a visual diary of a project started at the Summer School, exploring her response to the horrors of Auschwitz using puppetry and animation.

From the Frontline brings us the story of Thurtinkle the Gnome’s sojourn on Antony Gormley’s fourth plinth for One & Another.

Our Profile is of Mossoux-Bonte, a Belgian company who bring dreams to the stage using object animation, mask, and lightplay. They will be appearing at the 2010 London International Mime Festival, which is featured in our special Mime Fest Preview.

The News and Noticeboard section is the place to read about the current and future plans of puppeteers and puppet-theatre companies, and to catch up on other news, events and opportunities.

We also have A Letter from the Director, a ‘hello’ to Animations readers from the newly-appointed Director of the Puppet Centre Trust, Linda Lewis.

Should there be anything you’ve missed in previous editions, please take a look at our Archive, which has a user-friendly Search facility.

As always, your feedback is very welcome. Deadline for the autumn 2009 issue is 14 September.
We look forward to hearing your news, views and suggestions for future content.