Shadow Suitcase Shows at Norton Priory

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 🙂

Showings of “Seven Songs of Love” in Morecambe and Thirsk

We had a great time performing our new show at More Music in Morecambe at their Fun Palaces event.

Sadly the room we were performing in was a little on the small side at Morecambe and they had to turn some people away!

Everyone who attended really loved it and we had loads of positive feedback from adults and children who attended. There was also a very enthusiastic and creative shadow puppetry workshop after the performance.

The children experimented with lots of different techniques with gels, textures and puppets on our OHP. Some children also combined body shadows with the puppets and tried out multiple light sources to create different effects.

There was also a photographer (Nick Hellier) there to document the Fun Palaces event so we were lucky enough to get lots of great photos of the show, (see below):

Workshop Photos:

We also enjoyed travelling to Thirsk and performing in the Rural Arts Scratch Evening at The Old Courthouse venue there. This was a bigger space than the room at Morecambe and there was plenty of room for everybody and we got some very useful feedback on the audience age, length and storytelling in the show that will help us when we extend the show to its full length.

We have also created a Rural Touring page for the show on our website which has all the tech specs. floor plan, photos, video etc. for anyone wishing to book the show for 2023. CLICK HERE to view 🙂