Category Archives: Suitcase Theatre

More shadow puppets for Little Red Riding Hood story take shape

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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This is another update on the progress so far on the “Fairytales of Wit, Wisdom & Witchcraft” show.

After trying out all of the puppets that I have made so far with the Over-Head Projector and shadow screen I have been working out what extra puppets are needed to tell the stories. In many cases it is different sizes and arrangements of puppets I’d already made. You can see from the pictures that what I have been working on were larger scale articulated versions of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf which are to be used directly against the screen itself rather than on the flat bed of the OHP. I have also created a large scale head for Little Red Riding Hood to talk to the wolf, with an articulated mouth, (this is for the “Ooo Grandma what big eyes you’ve got” scene).

We have also decided to make two versions of the show, firstly a 30 minute version that I can do by myself which will feature “Little Red Riding Hood”, “The 3 Billy Goats Gruff” and “The Enormous Turnip” and an hour long version which will use two puppeteers (myself and Tim Austin) which will include the other three stories as well (“Goldilocks”, “The Frog Prince” and “Chicken Licken”).

Please feel free to leave a comment or a question about the puppets and how they are made. 😊

Please take a look at my WHERE YOU CAN SEE ME page for info. about free shadow puppet making workshop and shadow puppet suitcase performances at Skipton Puppet Festival coming up Sunday 19th of October.

My appearance in”Puppets and Puppet Theatre” by David Currell

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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I was delighted to receive my signed copy of the New Revised Second Edition of David Currell’s “Puppets & Puppet Theatre” on World Puppet Day. I was invited to share some images of my work for the book a while back now and I am thrilled to discover that these have been included on three separate pages of the book as well as a mention in the sound equipment section, the “Contributors” section and the Acknowledgements.

To be included in this book has special significance for me because it was books like my copy of “The Complete Book of Puppet Theatre” by David that helped me to make some of my first puppets when we first started out making things for Rough Magic Theatre‘s first production “The Tempest”.

To be included in a book like this after over 25 years doing puppetry and making puppets which may inspire a whole new generation of new puppeteers is amazing and wonderful.

I have not had time to read the whole thing in depth from cover to cover, but it is clear that it is an extraordinarily comprehensive and up to date guide to puppet making, performance techniques, staging and even touches on the business side of things.

This new edition includes such up to the minute making techniques and materials such as 3-D printed puppets (featuring Nik Palmer’s work), worbla, plastezote etc. as well as traditional materials such as wood and so on.

For anybody starting out this would be an excellent buy and indeed it could be useful for established practitioners to find out about new techniques and materials etc.

This is a fairly big book and every page is literally crammed with pictures, instructions and all sorts of practical information.

I shall do a follow up on the book after I have had time to read all of it, but I feel that this is almost like an encyclopedia of puppetry that you can consult when you have a specific issue or technique that you want to know more about.

If you want a copy of the book; it can be purchased online or from The Crowood Press for £25 + £3.99 postage (£28.99) or David says you can contact him for a signed copy for £25 including postage

Contact:                 davidcurrellauthor@gmail.com