Tag Archives: Buxton

Rough Magic Theatre at Buxton Puppet Festival!

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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As I my last few posts have been of the exceedingly wordy variety, I feel justified in making this blog very “picturey”.  As I’ve mentioned previously, I went to Buxton for their puppet festival on Saturday the 30th of July.  A small but very artistic bunch of children and parents created these fantastic shoe box toy theatres with me in only an hour and a half!  My hope is that they will be able to create more characters, scenery and stories for the theatres, having had this exceedingly good start.

After the workshop, (in which I was ably assisted by some very nice people from Buxton Opera House) I wanted to stick around for Karizmo and Sim Sim puppets performance of Sinbad.  In the gap in between, I got myself a picnic lunch and sat in the Pavilion Gardens.

If you’re getting the impression that being a puppetry professional is all picnics in the sunshine then let me tell you that I got up at 5am to be at the workshop in plenty of time and chopping slits in 20 shoe boxes with a stanley knife isn’t a barrel of laughs either.  I’m not complaining, just seeking to show you that I deserved a bit of relaxation time.

Karizmo and Sim Sim puppets did a fantastic, highly interactive show, getting the audience to help play percussion instruments, sing the songs, use the different rod and glove puppets and see first hand the marvels of the universe through the magic telescope of the Cyclops.  All of the audience, me included, found it a highly enjoyable experience.  The evil magician puppet being attacked by the “angry aubergine” puppet wielded by a very small boy was a highlight of the performance for me.  The authentic costume worn by Karizmo and the eastern rugs and the decorations on the booth were also a big part of the magic of the experience.

Mega Busy!

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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It's that puppet again!

She gets everywhere!!!

So, as promised, the everything happening at once that I promised to tell you all about.

Lots of things have been happening just when I am trying to really crack on with the Hansel & Gretel Toy Theatre show that is creeping up increasingly quickly.  Despite this I have got the majority of the final quality puppets drawn out and I plan to get all of the artwork finished for Monday when it will be taken to the printers.  Our filming date has been pushed back to next Friday, all being well.  A large chunk of the sliders are complete and the corrugated plastic scenery that things will be mounted on will also be complete by Monday.  The curtain is already finished!

So, what else has been happening?  I hear you ask.  Yesterday I had an audition for a tour of Little Red Riding Hood with Norwich Puppet Theatre.  This is the first in house show they have produced for some time, so it is very exciting.  The voices I have been using for Hansel & Gretel came in very nicely, I fancy.  I also got to play with an in progress wolf rod puppet and used a song, some acting and puppetry from our Alice in Wonderland show to demonstrate my skills for them.  This took all day, including the drive from North Yorkshire to Norwich and back.  The people I met there were all very nice by the way.

This leads on to another thing that has happened.  We are doing our Alice in Wonderland show at Hebden Bridge Arts Festival on Saturday the 25th of June at 1.30pm.  I am also doing shoe box toy theatre making workshops at Buxton Puppet Festival on Saturday the 30th of July.

Given the amount of work I need to do in time for the Vischmarkt Papierentheater Festival, you will not hear from me for some time.  If any of you are attending the festival I shall see you there.  I am very much hoping that someone will write a review of our show, and I intend to try and write up some of other people’s.  So, goodbye for now.  Don’t forget, you can help support our show by going to our Wefund page, please see the links on the right of the home page.