This Easter holidays we were very excited to discover that the long awaited Upfront Puppet Museum is now open and visitors with tickets to see the fantastic “Stanelli’s Super Circus” show were able to take a peek at the extensive and diverse range of puppets from all over the world. Visitors with children will be thrilled to discover that not all the puppets are in protective cases but are available for people to have a go in two delightful theatres that I presume John Parkinson has made himself. One is a marionette theatre with a bridge (raised platform) at the back, light switch and working curtain and the other is a glove puppet booth for Punch & Judy. The video and photos show my kids having a go with these plus the overhead projector and shadow puppets. John still has plans for further improvements but opening the museum now means he can get some contributions which will go towards these.
I also got to see another room where more of Stan Parker’s “Super Circus” puppets were displayed when they are not performing. I believe John rings the changes and swaps certain puppets in and out of the show. I noticed that he changed the puppet who was performing as the M.C. character from the last time we watched this show, for example.
I was also delighted to meet Molly Agar (who I met at the Skipton International Puppetry Symposium) again as she was puppeteering the marionettes for the show with John. She did an incredible job considering that this was her first experience working with marionettes. All of the different puppets had their own particular stringing and characteristics to allow them to do their own particular tricks. Molly even used a dissecting skeleton puppet as part of the performance (a very popular type of cabaret style marionette). Learning to do all of that in a short space of time is no mean feat.
I have been to see this show at least 3 times now and it is lovely to see how the show has become honed and improved over the years. It is a very slick, highly entertaining, skilled performance with lots of laughs and audience interaction. As John says in his introduction it is a unique opportunity to see vintage circus marionettes being used in performance rather than hung up in a museum display. Real living history.
So, to conclude, I heartily recommend both the shows and the new museum. Upfront put on performances during school holiday periods so keep your eyes peeled for future showings. They hope to make museum tickets available to book on the website soon.
I have a number of other posts about visits to Upfront Puppet Theatre, feel free to browse some of the back catalogue below:
Puppet Lady 