Tag Archives: workshops in schools

“Officer Buckle and Gloria” Announcement

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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At last we have been given the official go ahead and can, not only, tell you about it but start making the production! Pictures of the making of the “Gloria” puppet in progress to follow!

Tim Austin's avatartj-austin.co.uk

Hello all.  Yes I know that it’s been a while but I’ve been awaiting the contractual ink to dry before announcing some very exciting news!

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In June, I’ll be starring in a brand new stage adaptation of the multi-million-selling children’s book “Officer Buckle and Gloria” by Peggy Rathmann.

Premièring in the last week of June at East Riddlesden Hall in Keighley and City Park in Bradford, West Yorkshire,  “Officer Buckle and Gloria” is a new commission produced by my long-term collaborators at Rough Magic Theatre.

It’s the story of an American cop who travels between schools to give dull and largely-ignored safety talks.  Things change when his bosses give him a Police dog called Gloria to accompany him,… a dog with a surprising talent for show-biz!

Gloria will be a full, Alsatian-sized dog puppet and is currently under construction in the Rough Magic workshop.  Boy is she cute!

I’ll be back with more details…

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“We’ll Follow Mr & Mrs Spoon”….At Last More Spoon Puppet Pics!

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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You may remember towards the end of last year mentioning a spoon rod puppet making workshop I did at a school, (CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL POST).  This was with a Year 2 class at St. Stephen’s C.P. School in Skipton.

Class teacher Carmel Heckman has now sent me photos of some of the finished puppets made by the children.

Mrs. Heckman asked for a puppet workshop that taught the children about joints and I got the basic puppets made with them on the day I visited.  However, the children finished off the puppets adding all the costume details, facial expressions and hair on their own.  They also made the theatre backdrops with their teacher after my visit.  So I was very pleased to see what an excellent job they (and Mrs. Heckman) did of finishing the puppets off.

We had discussed how you can create a character and convey information about what the character is like using the facial expression, colour and costume elements while I was there too.

Mrs. Heckman said:

“We made some wonderful puppets and then we made the theatres, which we only just finished a couple of weeks ago!….The children still talk about the workshop and we continue to be creative every day.  Many thanks for your input.”

If you want a puppet project of some sort at your school, do not hesitate to contact me.  I’m happy to discuss your requirements and create a workshop that fits in with topics that you want to do.  We can also make whatever type of puppets you would like.  Of course, we do shows as well, if that is what you would like.  CLICK HERE TO CONTACT ME