Tag Archives: harlequin puppet theatre

Happy New Year & 2025 in review!

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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Like a lot of people (especially creatives) I often suffer from imposter syndrome.

Although it may seem a little boring to see yet another overview of what someone did over the course of the previous year it is really important to remind yourself of what you have achieved. I am a perfectionist and I recognise that this can be a very negative mindset because perfection is something we can never achieve. Social media can also be a very negative thing as you see all the best possible pictures of people’s finished work or sped up time-lapse of a project that took, hours, weeks, months or even years of work in a matter of seconds and it is tempting to think that we can only be worthwhile if we create things that are the same as what others are putting out there in their feeds.

So, stocktaking and reflecting on what we have actually achieved in a year can give a big confidence boost when you realise that while you may not have ticked off everything on your perfection wish list, you have done a whole bunch of really great stuff. This can give you an “oh, yeah! I am doing pretty well” moment and an opportunity to pat yourself on the back.

If on the other hand you feel like 2025 was an absolute waste of time and space for you, try not to let that worry you either. Just remember that without even doing/”achieving” anything that you are a Wonder of the Universe just for existing. There has never been, and never will again, be anyone exactly like you. We don’t have to “achieve” things to be worthwhile and if you are able to slow down and appreciate the little things around you in the present moment instead of worrying about the past or the future that can be very good for your spiritual and mental health.

So below is my list of things I did in 2025 that I’m proud of and links to the blog posts with more pictures/videos etc. for you to peruse:

🎆I was featured in David Currell’s New Book “Puppets & Puppet Theatre“. Big thanks to him.

🎆I worked very hard on making an astounding number of shadow puppets for our New Fairytales shadow puppetry show for smaller venues like schools and libraries: “Fairytales of Wit, Wisdom & Witchcraft” including 6 fairytales (The Frog Prince, The Enormous Turnip, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and Chicken Licken). See following blog post links: New Year, New Shows!, Fairytale Shadow Puppets take shape, More New Fairytale Shadow Puppets, Nearly All Puppets Complete, More Shadow Puppets for Little Red Riding Hood Story Take Shape

🎆We were thrilled to be invited back to Congleton Food & Drink Festival with our Mad Hatter’s Tea Party walkabout show (CLICK HERE for show page).

🎆I was booked to run workshops and perform my Shadow Puppet suitcase shows for the opening of the new Sound & Vision Gallery at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. CLICK HERE for blog post.

🎆I performed as “Mom” and “Kai” for our first ever “Al & Kai’s Faboo News LIVE” show in Blyth at “The Happy Space” Inflatable Venue from Stellar Creates. This was part of the “Blyth Celebrates” events.

🎆I attended lots of theatre, puppetry, light festivals and networking events including Newcastle Puppetry Festival to see Matthew Robins “A Million Tiny Ants”, Stockton International Riverside Festival, Lightpool – Blackpool, Light Up Lancaster, Lumiere – Durham, “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” at Blackpool Winter Gardens, and Skipton International Puppetry Symposium, (where I also ran a shadow puppetry workshop and performed my shadow suitcase shows).

🎆I participated in many of the fantastic events held for the Centenary of the British Puppet & Model Theatre Guild including an online Q&A with TV Puppetry legend Phil Fletcher, an online show & tell event and last but not least the fantastic Marionette Masterclass with Ronnie le Drew held at the Harlequin Puppet Theatre at Rhos on Sea, in Wales.

🎆I auditioned for Theatre by the Lake with a Shakespeare monologue and also for a Peppa Pig show with puppets.

🎆I also created a quick marionette using KNEX, which I even used to make a little festive demo video with. When I have time in between everything else this year, I will be renovating/restringing a wooden vintage Pinocchio marionette I got off Ebay so if you fancy keeping up to date with that and all my other news, please “follow” the blog (you can also subscribe to have it sent to you via email as a newsletter).

I’d love to hear something you are proud of from last year or what you like to do in January to reset and get ready for the New Year in the comments 😊.

A Marionette Masterclass at The Harlequin Puppet Theatre

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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This door was affected by fire damage from an arson attack and had been replaced when I last visited but hadn’t been repainted yet. This decoration was recreated by Tim Sykes based on photographs of the original door.

The British Puppet Guild put on this special day long event as part of their Centenary Year celebrations.

I had visited the theatre previously when Chris Somerville was still alive. He gifted ownership of the theatre to Mike Dixon in his will. You can see my previous post about the theatre by clicking on the link below:

A visit to the Harlequin Puppet Theatre

The format of the day was really good including hands on practicing with the vintage marionettes at the theatre under the watchful eye of expert marionettist Ronnie le Drew as well as demonstrations of the long string marionettes and demonstrations of the cabaret marionettes by Ian Denny and Glenn Holden.

We also had some interesting talks from Mike about the history of the building including its creation by Eric Bramall and Chris’s subsequent employment by him and the latter days when Chris was running everything as a one man show.

News for the future of the theatre, if you were not already aware, is that Mike (together with other skilled puppeteers) is putting on performances for the public again now. The first one of which is “A Christmas Carol” this December and I understand is already sold out!

Mike, and his partner Jo Slater, are currently in the middle of upgrading the lighting and sound equipment in the building. When Mike took it on, all of the original electrics and equipment were still in place and in working order, but not up to modern standards in terms of quality, safety and energy efficiency.

As well as directing and giving pointers on our technique, Ronnie treated us all to a wealth of reminiscences about his career and early days at The Little Angel Theatre and the people he worked with there. The puppets at the Harlequin and those made by John Wright of The Little Angel both use an upright style of control which (according to my research) is often referred to as a “British” or “English” upright control and features a separate leg bar.

Below are some of the photos Mike kindly shared from the day as well:

We were practicing with a set of puppets that had been made to perform as a set of Music Hall acts and after one rehearsal put on a little show taking into account the feedback we were given. My puppet was performing the song “Henry the Eighth I am” which was great because I know that song quite well. There was a pre-recorded backing track that we had to move the puppets in sync with and the patter of the M.C. character and the links between the tracks were hilarious (in my opinion anyway). I was reminded very strongly of Henry Gordon Jago from the Tom Baker Dr. Who story “The Talons of Weng Chiang”. Big congratulations to Tom on his recent MBE.

Below is a video which takes a tour of the Harlequin Puppet Theatre by The UK Theatre Tour which gives a lot of the history and also shows the Music Hall Puppets that we used:

The Harlequin Puppet Theatre Website is also an excellent resource containing lots of pointers on making, performance and materials for making and stringing puppets Harlequin Puppet Theatre style! CLICK HERE for the site.