Hello! It’s been a while. What with everything going on the PuppetBox newsletter has felt a difficult thing to write. We are very much still here though, making and delivering puppets and planning as best we can. Like everyone in the theatre world we had to cancel lots of events – and then we spent a little while staring into the distance and recalibrating.
Lockdown #1 seemed to provide a lot of us with a chance to brush up on some skills or learn some new ones and we were so happy to be a part of that. We all had a massive learning curve on Zoom technology and whilst it doesn’t feel like a proper substitute for working together in the studio it has offered up some lovely communication and sharing and opportunities to teach across the world.
We really enjoyed a series of one-to-one Zooms with teachers and practitioners focusing on puppetry technique. It was a lovely way to make connections and see what people were doing around the country and beyond. We even ran sessions in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpar – something that just wouldn’t have been possible without this digital technology. We have found we can use Zoom not only to teach, but to offer support and direction.
We will continue to offer these sessions - please get in touch via our website if you would like one.
One of the things we spent a lot of time doing via Zoom was helping teachers to adapt exercises to a socially-distanced space. Puppetry has a lot of options both for socially-distanced live and digital performance. This has led us to plan an actual in-person workshop (we know!) for 9 participants which will run in Brighton on 25th March 2021. Puppetry for the socially-distanced studio. This will cost £55 but there is an early bird offer running until the end of Jan that gives you a £10 discount. As we send this there are five places remaining, so don’t delay!
Outside the PuppetBox world we had great fun making a short film for OH! Productions called Barbara PootlePaddle. Annie has been designing ‘The Gift’ by Touched Theatre, and made a crow puppets for The Snow Queen at The Brighton Open Air Theatre.
Sophie directed a version of India Song for Rose Bruford Drama College.
We will also both be performing in Long Nose Puppet’s The Hug when theatres eventually re -open.
We would like to wish all of you a Happy Christmas and we look forward to the New Year when hopefully we can all be in theatres and studios together again.
Annie and Sophie x
News from our friends....
Have a look at SpyMonkey’s range of merchandise and filmed shows. https://www.spymonkey.co.uk/
Filskitt theatre have a range of online offerings for young audiences https://www.filskittheatre.com/
Touched Theatre have made a new show for 1-3 year olds! Follow it's developments here www.touchedtheatre.co.uk/shows/thegift/
