Upcoming events

Public Event: An exhibition of Puppetry by Lyndie Wright
Nov
28
to 10 Dec

Public Event: An exhibition of Puppetry by Lyndie Wright

Join us for a mesmerizing journey into the enchanting world of puppetry, celebrating the work of Lyndie Wright.

In addition to celebrating Lyndie's remarkable career, the exhibition serves a dual purpose by fundraising for a new roof for her workshop. The workshop stands as a symbol of the artistic hub where imaginative creations of many artists come to life, and the campaign aims to ensure its longevity and continued contribution to the world of UK puppetry.

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: 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 Night's Dream. RSC: Venus and Adonis, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, The Canterbury Tales.

Other Theatres include Opera North: The Magic Flute. NT: Coram Boy. Polka Theatre: Paddington Bear, Stuart Little. Brandenburg Theatre, Germany: Tranquilla Trampeltreu.

Exhibition dates: Tues 28 November - Sun 10 December (closed on Mondays)
Opening times: 12pm - 7pm

Press Release

Illustration by Lyndie Wright
Photos by Jemima Yong

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Public Event: Curious Puppets Festival
Nov
9
to 11 Nov

Public Event: Curious Puppets Festival

Curious Puppetry returns to the Rosemary Branch Theatre for the 3rd annual Curious Puppets Festival!

Including a reimagined Punch & Judy and work from Sarah Wright, Hector Huang, Dix McDevitt, Dan Armstrong, Eoin Lynch, Ayşıl Akşehirli, Fibi Cowley, Steve Tiplady and Sally Todd - all of whom are 'Still Curious' alumni and tutors of the renowned puppetry school.

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Programme

Punch!
(5 mins)
Sarah Wright, Mike Shepherd

From Kneehigh’s Dead Dog in a Suitcase comes a short sharp Mr. Punch as he battles the ills of human existence.

I Wear my Heart on my Sleeve
(20 mins)
Presented by Chicken Shop Hermits (Hector T.J. Huang, Chiara Scoglio) Original Music composed Declan Robertson

Office workers Albert and Bridget are haunted by a monster from their past.

A Woman with a Pram
(3 mins)
Hannah White, Sarah Wright

A story observation by John Berger

Walking the Wall
(13 mins)
Fibi Cowley, Dix McDevitt

This object-lead exploration of creative collaboration follows legendary love stories into the private sphere and asks what we sacrifice when passion and heartbreak are used as an artistic source.

An evening with the sublimely bewitching Samantha
(8 mins)
Dan Armstrong

All the Glitz and Glamour more suited to the West End than a pub theatre... prepare to be charmed, dazzled and quite possibly aroused.

The Overcoat
(7 mins)
Eoin Lynch and Ayşıl Akşehirli

Shadow and miniature theatre a piece in development based on the story by Nikolai Gogol

Pilgrim
(25 mins)
Elisa de Grey

A woman leaves her old life and disappears into the wilderness. Encounters with a fish, an owl, a river spirit, and a mysterious figure conjure the ancient magic of the land and the longing to become reunited with her. This is an excerpt from a longer piece.

Dispute with a Butterfly
(6 mins)
Fibi Cowley

An individual desperately searching to learn about making change, both in themselves and the world around them explores the life cycles and migration of the painted-lady butterfly.

Punch Again!
(5mins)
Sarah Wright, Mike Shepherd

Puppets designed by Lyndie Wright, carved by Jan Zalud, costumes by Gerry Spiller

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Lighting: Freddie Crossley

Sound: Hannah White

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The Adventures of Curious Ganz: Still Curious perform at Charleville OFF Festival
Sept
19

The Adventures of Curious Ganz: Still Curious perform at Charleville OFF Festival

  • MCL Ma Bohème 21 Rue d'Aubilly Charleville-Mézières, Grand Est, 08000 France (map) (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

“It was so special to live for a few days in a world where puppetry is absolutely ubiquitous… It felt really good, supportive and flourishing. It showed me it was possible and it showed me how under supported and underappreciated puppetry is in London. Now that I have experienced it in an embodied way, I feel less alone in my passion for the art form and more confident in creating environments where it is celebrated and ubiquitous.” - Alumni feedback

As part of Still Curious professional development, a troupe made out of Still Curious alumni artists took The Adventures of Curious Ganz to Charleville’s OFF Festival. We performed two shows on 19 September at MCL Ma Bohème and sold out both shows. The group stayed for the rest of the week to see shows together and network with puppeteers from other parts of the world.

We succesfully ran our first Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, raising £4820 with 48 backers, exceeding our target (of £3900) over 39 days.

Our presentation at Charleville’s OFF Festival led to the show being invited to Puppetopia in NYC, USA in 2024.

“A seed that will remind me how important puppetry is and the depth of the stories that can be told with this form.” - Alumni feedback

“I would never have been able to afford to go to the festival. Simple. I came to the festival very empty and drained from a summer of working to re-pay my debts accumulated when making my show. I come away from the festival totally energised, full of ideas for my next show. I also deeply benefited from seeing so many shows with other puppeteers sharing the same language (our Curious school of puppetry language). Discussing the shows was as rich as seeing them.” - Alumni feedback

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Public Event: Curious 2023 Project Sharings
Mar
8
to 9 Mar
Project Sharings

Public Event: Curious 2023 Project Sharings

The Curious School of Puppetry Project Sharings are a presentation of work by current students, culminating the eight-week intensive course. The evening is made up of short performances that explore different approaches to puppetry!

Timings: we will be serving SOUP at the project sharings from 6 - 6.45pm. And the show will start promptly at 7pm!

Entry donations: On site, there will be a compulsory entry donation which is pay what you can (recommended minimum £7)!

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Public Event: Curious SOUP Night - Louise Gold
Mar
2
SOUP Nights

Public Event: Curious SOUP Night - Louise Gold

Our ✨final✨SOUP Night speaker of the series is 🥁🥁🥁 puppeteer, actor & singer Louise Gold! Louise puppeteered and did voice acting for programmes such as The Muppet Show, Sesame Street and The Dark Crystal. She was also a founder of, and lead puppeteer for, the television show Spitting Image from 1984 to 1986.

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Public Event: London International Mime Festival: Our Puppet Families talk
Feb
1

Public Event: London International Mime Festival: Our Puppet Families talk

A pre-show talk with Cheryl Henson and Sarah Wright about how growing up in renowned family puppet companies led them to become ardent advocates for the art of puppetry.

Cheryl Henson, daughter of Jim and Jane Henson of the Muppets and President of the Jim Henson Foundation, and Sarah Wright, founder of The Curious School of Puppetry and daughter of John and Lyndie Wright, founders of The Little Angel Puppet Theatre, discuss what makes puppetry the most exciting form of theatre in the world, why they stuck with it, and what they are doing to support and foster the next generation of puppeteers.  

More information here

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Public Event: Curious SOUP Night - Shirley May
Jan
26
SOUP Nights

Public Event: Curious SOUP Night - Shirley May

For our second soup night of the season 🥣, we invite poet Shirley May to share her experience as Founder and Artistic Director of Young Identity, a Manchester-based literature and performance arts charity whose mission is to nurture, develop and champion the voices and creativity of diverse young people through literature, writing and performance. The title of May’s talk is ‘16 years to NPO*’

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Public Event: Curious SOUP Night - Sue Buckmaster
Jan
19
SOUP Nights

Public Event: Curious SOUP Night - Sue Buckmaster

🥣 Curious School of Puppetry’s Thursday SOUP nights are BACK! 🥣

Join us at our new home in St Barnabas Hall (Dalston) every Thursday for the next 8 weeks!

Our inaugural speaker is 🥁🥁🥁 Sue Buckmaster, artistic director of Theatre-Rites!!

The title of Sue’s talk is What sort of Puppetry Practitioner do you want to be?


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Training: Curious Professional 2023
Jan
16
to 11 Mar

Training: Curious Professional 2023

  • Shacklewell Row London, England, E8 2EA United Kingdom (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

“I felt a constant growth and development of my ideas, skills and taste… I gained a full pack of tips and tricks on how to unlock stories and how to make them clean and engaging… The fact that this space was specifically created to explore ideas and to play made me feel safe and willing to put my ideas out there without having fear of judgement and having other curious members as a part of it creates an even safer and familiar feeling to the whole experience because we all speak the same language…” - Student testimony

Curious 2023 ran as an eight-week intensive puppetry course from 16 January - 11 March 2023 at St Barnabas Dalston. We welcomed 17 students from 7 countries (including Singapore, South Korea and Belgium). New lecturers on the course this year included Tobi Poster Su and Andrew Kim.

2023’s international cohort was: Bright Ong, Calum Bruce, David Burchhardt, Dixie McDevitt, Fibi Cowley, Hannah White, Heather Lai, Hector Huang, Helen Foan, Hyemin Han, Iris Schmid, Julia Ghorayeb, Liza Cox, Poppy Franziska, Sara Guedes, Sean Garratt, Zhaolin Zhou.

“What Curious offers is a distinct style of teaching. It’s a highly immersive experience that doesn’t stop when class is dismissed… The course retains its unique foothold in the industry due to its unmatched variety and the experience level of the tutors, and its network of alumni who welcome students into an extended community of puppeteers.

The variety of teaching is broad-ranging, from tabletop to marionette, from shadow and light to object theatre, through eleven separate modules which are each two to four days long…

The course totally exploded my understanding of the art-form, and woke me up to what it was to be a puppeteer, beyond just the puppet. Through playing and working together, we formed a deep understanding of each other, which allowed for collaboration to flourish. I learnt that puppetry has even more to do with life experience and interpersonal skills than your understanding of movement and physics, though these technical aspects are also embedded in the teaching and feedback.”

- Excerpts from the text The Curious School of Puppetry  by Fibi Cowley published on EU Contemporary Puppetry Critical Platform

“We have had the privilege of learning under some wonderful puppetry artists, and I would

have been hard pressed to find this anywhere else… I appreciated the way Curious selected

its students as it gave me a good insight into the different ways puppetry artists access the

artform. It was lovely to see so many ‘Still Curious’ coming back to help out and be involved

in the community that the school has built. Their ardent support is testament to the strength

of the ties that are formed through the course, and for the art form.

”

- Student testimony

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