Theatre of Glass
Tempestade
(Temp-esh-tahd)
Shakespeare’s The Tempest is retold in a highly original piece of visual theatre that makes innovative use of crafted glass to cast wonderful shadows on a cinematic scale. Glass puppetry provides figures that dance in beams of light, combined with scenes made by the manipulation of sand and water in a continual process of magical transformation. An ever-changing cascade of images blends with live music created by a mix of specially made glass instruments, traditional strings and new technologies.
Theatre of Glass is a collaboration between artists in Portugal and England, exploring advanced puppetry to create surprising contemporary theatre.
We recommend ages: adult / family / 9+
Running time: 55 mins
Country: UK / Portugal
Ciroka Puppet Theatre
Theatre of Shadows
This is a beautiful and moving puppet show that reflects the story and illustrations of the book ‘Ophelia’s Shadow Theatre’ by Michael Ende. The puppet stage is fashioned as an enormous pop-up book, turning the pages to reveal the different scenes in which the character of Ophelia and the shadowy ghosts of her theatre appear.
Ophelia lived and worked in a beautiful old-fashioned theatre until the day the theatre closed down, when she decided to create a travelling theatre from the shadows of all the characters from the theatre’s past shows.
A visual delight for adults and children, Theatre of Shadows can be both funny and sad, and keeps the pace up with the help of live music on accordion and soprano saxophone. It is performed by Hungarian puppeteers in English.
Theatre of Shadows has won many awards at international festivals and Ciroka Puppet Theatre were well received by Dynamics 07 audiences with their show The Girl in the Blue Dress.
We recommend ages: adult / families / 6+
Running time: 45 mins
Country: Hungary
Marten Lierman’s Poppentheater
Maurice’s Friends
Marten Lierman’s traditional wooden street marionettes are a delight for children and adults. Performing with live music created by an old fashioned street organ, the puppets play their musical instruments, they perform magic tricks and acrobatics – and sometimes their heads come off! The puppets interact with the audience, climbing onto their laps or dancing on their heads, playing up to the audience and encouraging plenty of laughter.
Marten has been performing his shows across Europe where his skill as a marionettist and his sense of humour as a performer have entertained audiences for many years.
We recommend ages: family / 2+
Running time: 40 mins
Country: Belgium
Theater Laku Paka
Peter and the Wolf
Visually striking shadow theatre in stark black and white with splashes of bright colour – a chance to see shadow theatre fulfilling its potential.
The story of Peter and the Wolf is told from the Wolf’s point of view, and unfolds through storytelling (in English) and through the familiar score by Prokofiev, accompanying the story throughout.
This is a skilfully crafted show that is charming and humorous and appeals across age ranges, from a well-known German puppet company that regularly tours internationally.
We recommend ages: adult / family / 4+
Running time: 55 mins
Country: Germany
Theater Laku Paka
Alfred in the Hay and in the Way
Alfred is a strange bird – he’s got the power and size of an eagle but he lives in the hen-house with the chickens! The other birds are unkind to him because he is not like them, except for Rosi who likes him just the way he is....
Alfred is an entertaining and amusing show for younger audiences and families, performed in English, with the traditional Ugly Duckling moral. It features a truly clever hen-house constructed of chicken boxes that regularly shift their arrangement to make a differently shaped hen-house, (as in a tangram).
We recommend ages: family / 4+
Running time: 45 mins
Country: Germany
Storybox Theatre
3 Pigs
A Porcine Show for piglets, sows and old boars of all ages!
A sty full of stories and song - The Three Little Pigs, Susannah the Fanciful Sow and The Old Woman and her Pig are all brought to life with the amazing ingenuity of Storybox Theatre. This one-man show is created and performed by Rod Burnett, a consummate actor who knows how to play an audience and has them laughing from start to finish – whether they’re 6 or 60!
The traditional stories in this performance are told with some new and contemporary twists, with the help of the beautifully crafted two-dimensional wooden puppets with their ingenious mechanisms. Part of the fun of this show is getting to join in the extended songs, shouting out the repeated choruses to the rhythms of the ukulele or the Irish bodhran.
We recommend ages: family / 5+
Running time: 50 mins
Country: UK
Objects Dart
Little Red Riding Hood
Simply charming story-telling full of fun and magic, using ‘instant puppetry’ - everyday objects being transformed into characters and scenery before your eyes – alongside some surprising shadow play. It’s amazing what emerges from the puppeteer’s shopping trolley – wool, knitting needles, scissors, bobbins and all kinds of bits and pieces - to help him tell the story of the little girl with the red cape and cap who meets a granny-eating wolf in the woods! This is a performance to suit the younger audiences – despite the wolf it’s really not scary - with plenty of humour and opportunities to join in singing some familiar songs.
The creativity of this performance is sure to be an inspiration to young and old, so start collecting those washing up bottles and bits of string and you’ll soon be making your own puppet shows!
We recommend ages: families / 3-8 years
Running time: 45 mins
Country: UK
Objects Dart
Salt
Objects Dart explores the fascination children have with everyday objects being transformed into characters and settings to tell the story of Ivan the Ninny, who sets sail across the sea to see what he can see. Based on a traditional Russian tale, the story explores the importance of salt in a narrative packed with weird and wonderful characters. Through clever use of the contents of a picnic hamper, Objects Dart creates boats, sailors, fish, cities and Tzars, whilst a twirling umbrella becomes the rolling sea!
The creativity of this performance is sure to be an inspiration to young and old, so start collecting those washing up bottles and bits of string and you’ll soon be making your own puppet shows!
We recommend ages: families / 3-8 years
Running time: 45 mins
Country: UK
Blue Sky Theatre
The Sun Has Got His Hat On
Blue Sky Theatre continues its successful national tour of The Sun Has Got His Hat On with appearances in the Dynamics Festival. This show takes its inspiration from traditional tales and music from the Caribbean and so is bright, colourful, and hugely catchy!
Told in Blue Sky Theatre’s distinctive style of sing-along, bounce-along, clap-along musical storytelling with puppets, The Sun Has Got His Hat On features Caribbean carnival rhythms and a host of colourful animal shadow puppets from land, sea, and sky, bringing to life comical Anansi Spider and his friends in some simple tales drawn from English and Caribbean sources.
An imaginative and spell-binding ‘first time theatre’ experience for the very young.
We recommend ages: 2-7
Running time: 50 mins
Country: UK
Profs Clive Chandler & Glyn Edwards
Punch & Judy
The ever popular, always entertaining, traditional Punch & Judy show, with topical references and jokes to keep you laughing anew. Old Red Nose is still performing in the 21st century and keeping old and young alike in fits of merriment just as they have for the past few centuries. He is constantly renewing himself and his particular brand of anarchic knockabout nonsense strikes a chord in every new generation that meets him. Punch is an immortal figure from world culture who thumbs his nose at convention, gives those in authority a sound walloping with his trusty slapstick and - in the classic version of the story - defeats even the Devil himself.
We recommend ages: families / 3+
Running time: 30 mins
Country: UK
Major Mustard
King Arthur & Robin Hood
Major Mustard is a West Midlands-based puppeteer, musician and storyteller with years of experience of performing in the UK and internationally. This year we are featuring his traditional tales with an up-to-date sense of humour, King Arthur and Robin Hood. The Major also entertains before ‘curtain up’ with his dancing jig-dolls, live music and sing-a-long.
In King Arthur, danger looms as the evil sorceress, Morganne la Faye, attempts to take power in Camelot. Can Merlin and Hester the Jester stop Morganne - or is Camelot doomed? And why did Arthur's Granny fall off the Round Table?
Robin Hood is a rousing and humorous re-telling of the tale of Robin and his outlaws in their struggle against the Sheriff of Nottingham and his fearsome ally, Guy of Guisborne, with plenty of opportunities for knockabout humour!
We recommend ages: family / 4-11
Running time: 40 mins
Country: UK
Major Mustard
Little Blue Skid Lid
Major Mustard is a West Midlands-based puppeteer, musician and storyteller with years of experience of performing in the UK and internationally. For younger audiences he is presenting this madcap comedy, in which motorbike- riding Little Blue Skid Lid and her Granny become involved with a very special lion that has escaped from the circus - a vegetarian lion!
The Major also entertains before ‘curtain up’ with his dancing jig-dolls, live music and sing-a-long.
“...unpretentious, accessible and, above all, enjoyable theatre..."
We recommend ages: family / 3-7
Running time: 40 mins
Country: UK
Theatre of Small Convenience
Molly and the Man of Letters & Quackery Codswallop V
The most complete theatrical experience you could have in 5 minutes!
Firstly, the Theatre of Small Convenience is the smallest theatre in the world (Guinness Book of Records), having been converted by puppeteer Dennis Neale from a Victorian gents’ lavatory into the sumptuously decorated, mini-version of a grand playhouse. The theatre seats about a dozen people, but it really doesn’t matter if it’s full when you turn up, there’ll be another one in 5 minutes’ time!
Secondly, there are the small and perfectly formed shows created from the wild imaginings of Dennis Neale. Using beautiful and cleverly crafted puppets and scenery, Dennis tells stories that amuse and enchant all age groups. The popular mish-mash that is Quackery Codswallop is back for its fifth incarnation, plus new show Molly and the Man of Letters featuring shadow puppetry.
We recommend ages: family / adult / 4+
Running time: 5 mins
Country: UK
Hand to Mouth Theatre
Piggery Jokery
Piggery Jokery is a whimsical perambulation through the seasons, with resonances of ancient pagan ritual and dark humour, it follows the circular nature of time, as told by the Green Man and his hurdy-gurdy playing Droning Crone and their troupe of rag-bag characters. There is plenty of laughter along the way as the old farmer tends his land and fattens his pig for the winter.
Piggery Jokery has an atmosphere of Dark Ages & New Ages that will captivate All Ages, particularly Middle Ages and Older Ages… from little acorns to old oaks. It has been performed at Medieval Fayres, ecology festivals, woodland events, storytelling sessions and folk festivals in the UK and abroad.
We recommend ages: family / 4+
Running time: 30 mins
Country: UK
Sea Legs Puppet Theatre
The Selfish Giant
Since building a wall to keep the children out of his garden, the only visitors the Selfish Giant gets are Lady Snow and her friends. One morning he hears the most beautiful music coming from his bedroom window and is delighted with the sight that greets him.
The Selfish Giant is a delightful moral tale, based on the story by Oscar Wilde, and in this production beautifully realised in the magnificent set design enabling the transformation of the Giant’s garden from spring to winter and back again. This artistry is carried through into the imaginatively designed and crafted puppets and the original musical soundtrack that accompanies the story-telling.
We recommend ages: family / 4+
Running time: 45 mins
Country: UK
Sea Legs Puppet Theatre
The Ugly Duckling
Based on Hans Christian Anderson’s much loved tale, The Ugly Duckling uses magical story-telling, charming puppets and a delightful new musical score to make this a must-see show for younger audiences. Journey through the seasons with the troubled little duckling in this classic story of identity and belonging.
One long hot summer’s day as the sun smiled down from the blue, blue sky, and the fields were stacked with golden hay, and the trees were laden with fruit, and down by the river, a mother duck sat brooding on her eggs...
We recommend ages: family / 3+
Running time: 50 mins
Country: UK
Puppet Extravaganza
Saturday 30th May, 10am to 5pm
Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolverhampton
A whole day of fun for all the family, indoors and outdoors at the Newhampton Arts Centre. Join us for a rolling programme of non-stop shows and activities, with puppeteers from Belgium, Germany and of course the UK.
Pay only £1 entrance fee to see all these shows on offer throughout the day....
Marten Lierman’s Poppentheater from Belgium, presenting his entertaining street show with traditional marionettes doing tricks and acrobatics....
Walking Tall’s giant puppets, getting up to mischief in the courtyard, along with a few surprise guest puppets....
Theater Laku Paka from Germany with their delightful show for younger audiences, Alfred in the Hay and in the Way, about the oversized chick who finds himself too big for the henhouse....
Objects Dart with Little Red Riding Hood (indoors) and Salt (outdoors), using objects from everyday life to create puppets and tell stories....
And if that inspires you to get creative, come along to the puppet-making stand in the courtyard where you can make your own puppet to take home!
We are also presenting shows for all the family in the main theatre (tickets at £2, includes entry to the Extravaganza)....
