Sarah trained at the Little Angel Theatre and has worked extensively within physical and puppetry based theatre ever since! She is an Associate Artist with Kneehigh and LAT.

Puppet Direction includes: Kneehigh: The Tin Drum, Dead Dog in a Suitcase, Brief Encounter, Red Shoes, Hansel and Gretel, Wild Bride. Young Vic: The Life of Galileo, A Season in the Congo. Little Angel: Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Angelo.  Shakespeare’s Globe: The Little Matchgirl, Macbeth (dir. Iqbal Khan). RSC: The Empress, Tempest. Bath Theatre Royal: The Double. Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures: Sleeping Beauty. Silent Tide: Silent Tide, The Adventures of Curious Ganz.

As Puppeteer includes: LAT: Venus and Adonis, Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, The Little Mermaid. Kneehigh: The Tin Drum, Dead Dog in a Suitcase. Silo Theatre Amsterdam: The Tower, Planetarium Silo, Hotel. Faulty Optic/Invisible Thread: Fish Clay Perspex, Plucked, Les Hommes Vides. Improbable: Animo.

www.silent-tide.com

Rene specialises in puppet and object theatre, with over 25 years professional practice as a performer, director, designer, researcher and pedagogue. She trained at the Little Angel Theatre (London) and from 1992-1998 was a core member of the creative team at Norwich Puppet Theatre (UK). 1998-2005 she taught puppet manipulation at the Central School of Speech and Drama (London) and 2005-2010 lectured in visual theatre and directed performances at the Institut del Teatre (Barcelona). 2010-2012 she was a full-time guest teacher in the puppetry and circus departments of the Turku Academy of Arts in Finland. Rene is currently working in the UK as a freelance director, trainer and coach in puppet and object theatre.

www.renebaker.org

Toby is a director, designer and performer who trained in puppetry at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He is founder and co-artistic director of Gyre & Gimble, a theatre company specialising in puppetry.

Toby was a puppeteer of Joey in the original company of War Horse (National Theatre), on leaving the show as a performer in 2011 he was made an associate puppetry director.He co-directed and designed the puppets for The Elephantom (National Theatre & West End) as well as creating puppetry for: The Light Princess (National Theatre), Disney’s new staging of The Little Mermaid (Holland, Moscow & Tokyo), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Royal Ballet), Goodnight Mister Tom (West End & UK tour) and Running Wild (Chichester Festival Theatre).

www.tobyolie.com

Lyndie founded the Little Angel Theatre with her husband John Wright in 1961. She still works in her workshop next door where she has designed and made world renowned puppets ever since.

For Little Angel: Venus and Adonis, Petrushka, Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, The Singing Mermaid, Paper Dolls, Cindermouse and Angelo. Kneehigh: The Tin Drum, Brief Encounter, Hansel and Gretel, Dead Dog in a Suitcase. Shakespeare’s Globe: The Little Matchgirl, A Midsummer Nights Dream. RSC: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, The Canterbury Tales.

Other Theatres includes Opera North: The Magic Flute. NT: Coram Boy. Polka Theatre: Paddington Bear, Stewart Little. Brandenberg Theatre, Germany: Tranquilla Trampeltreu.

Mervyn is a director and puppet designer. He was part of the original creative team of the National Theatre’s War Horse, also appearing at the NT and directing casts in London, New York, Toronto and Berlin. His work with puppets includes The Hatchling (Trigger), Aïda (Opéra de Paris), Circus 1903 (Southbank Centre, international tour); The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Birmingham Rep); Stiller (Residenz Munich); Appreciate (Paul McCartney); Crow (Handspring UK), and work for the RSC, Burgtheater Vienna, Schauspielhaus Zürich, NT Scotland, Opera National du Rhin, Lyric Hammersmith, Bristol Old Vic, and the Royal Court. He is also Puppetry Associate for the RSC's My Neighbour Totoro (Barbican).

His books include Puppetry: How to Do It, The Horse’s Mouth, and The Journey of The Tall Horse. Awarded an Arts Foundation Fellowship 2010 for his work in puppetry.

www.significantobject.com

Rachel has been performing with puppets for nearly 30 years, including work at:

The Little Angel Theatre, Puppet Theatre Barge, National Theatre, Handspring, RSC, Kneehigh, Trafalgar Studios, Walk With Amal.

She also works occasionally in film and TV.

She is passionate about puppetry; how it facilitates greater imaginative exploration of ideas, and is endlessly fascinated by the study of movement in all its myriad detail, and our instinctive willingness to interpret its meaning, and unfold stories.

“The soul has an absolute and unforgiving need for regular excursions into enchantment.” Thomas Moore

Jemima is a Malaysian performance maker, photographer & cultural worker based in London. Uninterested in creating what she can imagine on her own, she works exclusively in collaboration with others. Recent works include: Container (2025) written by Alan Fielden, Skywater, Facewater, Underwater Waltz (2025) with Karen Christopher & Tara Fatehi, Marathon (2018) with JAMS, winner of Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award and the photographic series Field 2020. As a cultural worker she has worked in communications with iniva and Barbican Centre. Jemima is currently producer at Curious School of Puppetry and Creative Director of the Kneehigh Legacy Project. jemimayong.format.com

Ronnie Le Drew, has been a professional puppeteer for 51 years. He started at the age of 15 at The Little Angel Theatre where he worked with the founder director John Wright learning how to manipulate Marionettes, Rod, Glove and Shadow puppets. Ronnie has since toured the world with the company and directed numerous productions. Screen work includes Labyrinth and Two Muppet Movies with Jim Henson and Rainbow for Thames TV, in which he operated Zippy. He has taught puppetry at The Little Angel, The Norwich Puppet Theatre, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and The London School of Puppetry of which he is now Patron.

Ronnie has published a book "Zippy and Me" which tells of his life performing with puppets from a 15 year old boy, to being recognised by his community as a top puppet performer.

Stan Middleton is a puppeteer specialising in marionettes. He has been performing since the age of nine and is a third generation marionettist. Stan's grandparents started the Puppet Barge which he now runs producing new work and hosting visiting companies throughout the year.

In 2011 Stan co-founded touring company String Theatre and worked with the company 2011 - 2018 performing across the world in more than 15 different countries.

Anna was a long-term member of Kneehigh latterly as a writer including Red Shoes and Tristan and Yseult. Anna has written for C-scape Dance, Theatre Alibi, Rogue, BBC Radio 4 and scripted The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings for Little Angel Theatre.

Anna co-runs the Story Republic and Writing Squad Kernow and is lead artist on Kneehigh’s Rambles programme walking the road less travelled gathering stories new and old. More recently she has developed a new show with musicians Bagas Degol, and collaborated on 'All That Glitters' with Tom Jackson Greaves and Kyla Goodey.

Mike Shepherd started Kneehigh in 1980 and has worked almost exclusively for the company ever since. Mike is an actor, director and teacher and has an ongoing preoccupation with the conditions of creativity.

As well as touring the world as a Kneehigh actor, Mike runs the Rambles programme with Anna Maria Murphy, is director of Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs) which tours this year and is a pioneer of Kneehigh’s transformable and transportable venue, the Asylum.

thisiskneehigh.co.uk

Nandi studied at the Liverpool Institute of Performance Art and her performance work as a dancer, actor and puppeteer has spanned many countries, dance companies and theatres including the international tour of Bill T. Jones, Fela!, Vocab Dance Company, A Season in The Congo (Young Vic Theatre) and the film Cyrano both with director Joe Wright and Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.

Nandi’s theatre credits include Kneehigh: Ubu, 946 (Shakespeare’s Globe, UK tour), The Tin Drum (Liverpool Everyman/UK tour); Shakespeare’s Globe: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and 5,6,7,8 (Royal Court)

Tobi Poster-Su is a UK-based theatremaker and scholar who specialises in puppetry and devised, crossdisciplinary work. As co-artistic director of Wattle and Daub, Tobi has co-created and performed in Chang and Eng and Me (and Me), The Depraved Appetite of Tarrare the Freak and Triptych. He has directed puppetry for shows including Tom Morris’s A Christmas Carol (Bristol Old Vic) and Heidi: A Goat’s Tale (the egg) and was puppet captain/puppeteer on RSC and Improbable’s My Neighbour Totoro.

He is a Lecturer in Drama at Bath Spa University and is undertaking an AHRC-funded PhD (Towards a Critical Puppetry: Racialisation and Material Performance in the Twenty-First Century) at Queen Mary University of London. He has published in Critical Stages, Theatre Journal and Applied Theatre Research, delivered presentations at ATHE, IFTR and TaPRA conferences, and is co-convener of the TaPRA Bodies and Performance working group.

www.wattleanddaub.co.uk

www.tobipostersu.com

Howard has worked for over 25 years as a director, performer, playwright, and teacher specializing in Commedia dell’Arte and other forms of physical, mask and puppet theatre. He co-founded Ophaboom Theatre, England’s premier Commedia company, directing many of their shows and touring extensively in the U.K. and Europe including Venice Carnival; Almagro festival, Spain and National Theatre, outdoor summer festival.

He has also performed and directed shows at the Little Angel Theatre and Norwich Puppet Theatre. Directing at LAT includes: Musicans of Bremen, Selkie Bride, Romeo and Juliet and King Arthur.

Howard is a regular teacher at ESMAE Polytechnico Porto, Portugal, East 15 and Hope Street, Liverpool. He received an Art Council England Grant to study Native American masking traditions in Arizona.

www.ophaboom.co.uk

Sally Todd is a visual artist (Sculpture MA Chelsea College of Art) and theatre practitioner. She makes objects and installations and also devises theatre for children and adults; seeking out the theatrical potential of materials and the narrative possibilities within the everyday. As co-artistic director of Indefinite Articles Theatre Company, she has a particular interest in developing high quality and meaningful theatre for the very young - drawing on her background as an artist to create work out of sand, ink, chalk, clay, shadows and the odd puppet or two. The company's last production for early years involved improvised storytelling with clay. Made with and for 3 - 5 year olds, 'Claytime' has since toured to nurseries, theatres and festivals in the UK and overseas. Her recent practice also involves the use of video in theatre and in installation, as part of 'neuf' film collective.

Steve formed Indefinite Articles with his partner, Sally Todd, in 1995 making theatre from objects and materials (Claytime) and for Opera Group’s The Firework Maker’s Daughter and John Adams’ El Nino.

As a performer Steve won an OBIE as part of the team that created Improbable Theatre’s 70 Hill Lane and Animo.

Steve was Artistic Director at the Little Angel Theatre where he directed twelve shows including Jabberwocky, Fantastic Mr Fox and The Mouse Queen.

He is an acclaimed freelance Puppet Director including: RSC Venus and Adonis, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Greg Doran), A Winter’s Tale (David Farr). Royal National Theatre Six Seeds. NT Wales The Dark Philosophers. NT Scotland Menage a Trois. The Globe Loves Labours Lost, Dr. Faustus. 360 Production’s Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe (Kensington Gardens)

Fred is a performer and puppeteer. His theatre credits include: Life of Pi (Schoenfeld Theatre/The Sheffield Crucible/Wyndham’s Theatre) for which he and fellow puppeteers won Olivier award for Best supporting actor; Ocean at the end of the Lane (National Theatre); Dido and Aeneas (Bodø Concert Hall, Norway); Peter Pan and Running Wild (Regents Park Open Air Theatre/UK tour); The Hartlepool Monkey (UK Tour); Peter Pan, A Christmas Carol, Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Witches, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Noah, The Firework Makers Daughter (Chichester Festival Youth Theatre); Experiment scratch performance (Nuffield Theatre Southampton); Pass it on Renew Project and Rattigan’s Nijinsky (Chichester Festival Theatre).

His TV credits include: Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, Jurassic World: Dominion, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Avye trained at the Lecoq school in Paris (2005-7) and particularly enjoys combining acting with devising, movement and puppetry work.

She has acted and puppeteered in, amongst others, War Horse and Elephantom (National Theatre), Faeries (ROH), Brief Encounter (Kneehigh Theatre), A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (Kneehigh and Little Angel), Something Very Far Away (Unicorn) and The Adventures of Curious Ganz (Silent Tide). Film includes working as movement artist and puppeteer on Gravity, Paddington, Pan, and as an actress and motion capture artist on Andy Serkis’ Jungle Book: Origins (all Warner Bros)

www.avyeleventis.com

Marty is a an artist and Lighting Designer whose work encompasses Live Art, Theatre, Performance, Dance, Fine Art, Music and many cross collaborative forms.

He enjoys collaborating with a wide range of artists and companies and it’s an important element in the way he works. He finds working in interesting spaces and bringing them to life with light very enjoyable. Colour is a big focus in his work and the ongoing learning around how colour works. The relationship between fine art and theatre and their different working practices is a keen interest and informs his work and design choices.

As Part of the Duckie collective he has designed many of their theatrical club events. He was nominated by the Off West End Awards for Best Lighting Design for Vincent River at the Park Theatre. His solo fine art practise explores a relationship between light and colour & has exhibited is several group shows in London and Sydney.

martylangthorne.cargo.site

John Wright is an award-winning international teacher and theatre-maker. He co-founded Trestle Theatre Company in 1980 and Told by an Idiot in 1993. He has worked on a string of productions and projects extending over three decades in Europe, Scandinavia, Asia and the UK, where his work has been seen at the National Theatre, the RSC, the Royal Court, the Almeida and the Royal Opera House. He was granted a Greater London Arts Award for his contribution to professional training; and his belief that teaching is the greatest source of learning has enabled his ideas to be shaped and moulded by generations of students. He pioneered the teaching of Clown at university level and was one of the first people in the country to offer courses in devising.

He is the author of two books, Why Is That So Funny?: A Practical Exploration of Physical Comedy and Playing the Mask: Acting Without Bullshit.

Iestyn began his career puppeteering animatronic animals made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in the West End musical, Doctor Dolittle. He went on to work on The Fimbles (CBeebies) as an assistant puppeteer, was promoted to his own character on spin off series The Roly Mo Show, and has been working mainly in television, film, and commercials ever since.

In 2005 he co-founded Talk to the Hand Puppets. In 2012 they won the Royal Television Society Award for the puppets and puppetry on BBC comedy series, Mongrels.

Liz Walker was a founding partner and joint Artistic Director of Faulty Optic.

She trained as a puppeteer at Little Angel Theatre and her interest in kinetic sculpture, 3D animation (especially the work of Jan Svankmajer and the Quay Brothers), dance and all things bizarre and surreal, combined to create a unique form of puppetry for adults, that has inspired many puppeteers and theatre practitioners working in the UK and abroad.

Liz created Invisible Thread in 2011 performing Fish, Clay, Perspex, Plucked – True Fairy Tale and Les Hommes Vides

Of Fish, Clay Perspex: “It boasts the best pincer-legged ballet by armless men on polystyrene that I’ve ever seen.” Time Out

www.invisiblethread.co.uk

Lucinda is a skilled practitioner in both the spoken and singing voice supported by her Distinction at Masters level in ‘The Practice of Voice and Singing’. She has worked with many accomplished and reputable individuals and organisations including West End Shows, Recording Artists, University Programmes and Corporate Organisations.

Lucinda’s work along side Head Clinician Ed Blake at Physio Ed Medical has allowed Lucinda to make innovative steps in joining physical treatment with voice and singing coaching, as well as vocal rehabilitation at Harley Street, London.

Lucinda is a strong believer that every person has the right to free and dynamic voice, and is keen to facilitate this through her in depth knowledge and talent in teaching & coaching.

www.voiceunlocked.com

Joy is a director and theatre maker specialising in puppetry and performance for children and young people.

She has 30 years experience working as a freelance designer and theatre maker, director, performer, teacher and consultant. She creates, perform and tour her own unique theatre to venues and community spaces, festivals and schools.

In 2017 Little Chair Projects was born through an Arts Council funded research & development process entitled The Emotional Space & The Puppet’ enabling her to collaborate with artists, organisations and communities to grow ideas and develop new performance works.

As a freelance director she has worked with national organisations to create puppetry and multidisciplinary performances including: Theatre-Rites, Little Angel Theatre, Royal Opera House and Polka Theatre to direct the experimental Dot Squiggle and Rest and Polka Theatre and NPT to create Three Colours, which toured to China twice over 2016 & 2017.

She is committed to building early years (EY) arts into the mainstream and increasing respect for the competency of all young children as participants and collaborators. Joy co-creates and enables imaginative and explorative experiences and make theatre for and with very young children and the communities that surround them.

As a passionate advocate for the development and recognition of puppetry as a distinct medium and her belief in the vital and transformative power of art & creativity, Joy offer consultancy and arts project funding development to individuals and organisations nationally.

www.joyhaynes.co.uk

Stefan Fichert alongside Susanne Forster founded Puppet Players in London in 1974. The company has been based in Gauting, Germany since 1976.

After studying English and art, Forster and Fichert trained in puppetry arts at the Little Angel Theatre in London from 1967 to 1976. Between 1974 and 1985, they set up their own company with artistic contributions from George Speaight. Their repertoire has included performances such as the shadow plays, Josa mit der Zauberfiedel (Josa with the Magic Violin, 2002) and Sisyphos (Sisyphus, 2003), and string puppet performances such as Der weiße Dampfer (The White Steamboat, 1998) based on the work of Kyrgyz writer Tschingis Aitmatow. Their sophisticated collaboration with musicians, actors and dancers as well as musical experiments has shaped the style of their work.

Between 1989 and 1991, the company developed sound sculptures for the Festivals des Neuen Musiktheaters (Festivals of the New Musical Theatre) directed by Hans Werner Henze, which were then staged to international acclaim in the production, Lysistrata (1993). In the surreal play, Der Finsternis-Handel (The Trade in Darkness/The Darkness of Commerce, 1999), the Puppet Players confronted sound sculptures with Georg Christoph Lichtenberg’s aphorisms.

http://www.stefan-fichert.de

Andrew Kim is a puppet maker and performer based in West Yorkshire, England. He is a co-director of Thingumajig Theatre and the founder and former director or Handmade Parade. Andrew started in puppetry 30 years ago with Minneapolis’ In the Heart of the Beast Theatre and worked with Bread & Puppet and the Fremont Summer Solstice (Seattle) before moving to England.

Andrew has developed a specialty in giant puppets, lantern giant puppets, street theatre and community participatory spectacles. He is a recipient of a UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence and his puppets have been seen in 18 countries, and several television programs and a Disney film.

https://thingumajig.info @ThingumaTheatre