Tag Archives: puppet suitcase

Shadow Suitcase Shows at Norton Priory

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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Had a lovely time at Norton Priory a few months back for their “Discover Sundays” event.

I had never been there before and discovered that it is an amazing place hidden away behind a housing estate. If you have never been I would definitely recommend it.

Wonderful interactive displays that are great for kids and adults, (including a gigantic St. Christopher statue that appears to be speaking with the familiar booming voice of Brian Blessed).

I took my kids along (figuring that they could busy themselves exploring the museum and gardens with their Dad) while I did my shows and workshops.

However, I found my kids were taking the business of supporting Mummy very seriously and they trotted over to watch every single one of my performances and took part in the shadow puppet making workshop as well!

I performed my “Edward Lear’s Nonsense” shows in the Undercroft area which had wonderful acoustics and was unlike anywhere else I’d performed before (I suppose the closest might be Lancaster Castle or maybe Hall ‘ith Wood in Bolton).

We performed the “Jabberwocky!” show in the Undercroft and the Tudor garden as well and spent a bit of time exploring the grounds before we left.

All in all it was a lovely afternoon and we definitely intend to return at some point to check out all the things we missed.

If you would like to book one of our suitcase shows, a workshop or a different show CLICK HERE to get in touch 🙂 We are available for Light Festivals, Halloween, Christmas events etc.

You can find designs featuring puppets from “Jabberwocky!” and “Edward Lear’s Nonsense” in our new Rough Magic Theatre merch. shop. You can find gift bags and sweatshirts for Halloween or Christmas, plus lots of other great gift ideas, including dog bandanas, baby and maternity wear, teddies, mugs, cushions, stickers, badges, umbrellas etc. Plus for that extra special gift, you can personalise the items too! CLICK HERE to browse 🙂

Rough Magic Theatre at Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet Festival

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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Here are some pictures we took while performing at the Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet Festival on Sunday.

As you can see, we had excellent weather for shadow puppetry as it turned out to be a very sunny day, (that is all using sunlight with no artificial light at all). It is of course possible to do the show in less sunny weather and indeed night time events as I can use my battery powered strip light for that.

I decided to do our “Edward Lear’s Nonsense” show as it is slightly longer than “Jabberwocky!” and thought people would feel they were getting more value for money, I had also already performed “Jabberwocky!” in London and felt like it was worth trying out the other show this time. However, for busking purposes, I can’t help wondering now if the “Jabberwocky!” show would have been better, as with only 8 puppets, the turn around time for performing again would have been faster.

We saw some famous TV puppeteers including Phil Fletcher, Warwick Brownlow-Pike, Ronnie le Drew etc. but missed Harry Hill as we decided to stay with our pitch and didn’t realise that he was the “special event at 3pm.” We also met the incredibly talented ventriloquist/comedian Max Fulham in person for the first time. Max has appeared on TV in Crackerjack amongst other appearances and should definitely be given his own TV show (in my opinion).

Anthony and Miranda really enjoyed themselves and did the whole of the big parade with their Punch and Judy puppets. There was a bit of argument over who should have Mr. Punch, however, and I fear that I might be better off bringing the crocodile instead of Judy if there is a next time. Poor old Judy!

We also brought the Rough Magic flag with us for the parade which was originally made for Glastonbury Festival.

As well as seeing a few old friends we met some new ones. Paul Jackson (our next pitch neighbour) was very friendly and helpful and we also met Cath March of “Invisible Needs” who kindly put us all up at her flat for the weekend, many thanks to both of them.

We also managed to squeeze in a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the puppets etc. on the Saturday, (see above).