Little Angel’s Children’s Puppet Festival 2024
Oliver Hymans talks all things puppetry
Hot on the heels of an Offies award-winning Children’s Puppet Festival last year, the Little Angel Theatre are back with another superb selection of shows and activities for the summer. We are so ready for this after last year’s excellent entertainment, and were delighted to be able to chat with Oliver Hymans, the Festival’s Director, about what he has in store for us this year.
Hi Oliver. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today. I know you’re a very busy man, particularly at this time of year! Firstly, can you tell us about the responses you had to last year’s Festival?
Oh gosh yes…. we won an Offie Award for the festival’s inaugural year – totally unexpected, but hugely appreciated to be recognised for creating something for families to do in the summer. It made us realise we have to bring back the festival for a second year (and beyond!).
How many people attended the various activities?
We had nearly 4000 people attend our shows – there were 13 companies in total – as well as many more who attended the various workshops, puppet activities and adult professional development classes. We have a whole new selection of these on offer this year.
So what can we expect by way of performances?
As with last year there is no particular theme for the festival – rather, we are simply celebrating the wide range of puppetry styles which are used today to thrill and excite audiences in theatre and live performance. We have programmed several shows which are interactive or involve our audience’s help to craft the puppets along with the performers (Claytime, Boxville) – all taking place in our Studio 1, which is the perfect space to explore work which is slightly more unconventional. We’ve carefully programmed the companies so that there are shows suitable for all ages – from an opera for babies (Under the Little Red Moon) to non-verbal, physical theatre for older children (Moonshine). We are very excited to be showcasing the heritage craft of marionette puppetry (Lottie, the Travelling Doll), which was added to the Red List of Endangered Crafts last year and is at risk of dying out. We have companies who are presenting puppetry in innovative ways such as using magic (Out of the Hat), projection mapping (Minny Stynker) and an (almost) real-life zoological experience (The Zoo that Comes to You). And finally, there are some high quality theatrical adaptations of well known and loved books/stories (Jack and the Beans Talk and The Little Prince).
The Festival is a curated series of events, not just shows, including additional workshops for children. Can you talk a bit about those?
Absolutely, we have several puppet making workshops and activities every weekend of the festival, which families can book into individually or as a bundle offer; from making ice-cream and ice-lolly puppets to crafting cardboard dinosaurs inspired by the wonderful Cardboard Adventures’ Boxville. We also have the amazing Georgia Hill’s Monster Circus coming to our Studio 2 space. This is more than a workshop, which we are calling a workshop performance where you can learn all about the amazing different types of puppetry used in theatre and on screen and have a go yourself. Not to be missed for any young aspiring puppeteers.
I’m also seeing workshops for adults and industry professionals. That sounds amazing!
We have loads on offer for adults – both for puppetry enthusiasts and puppetry professionals currently working or hoping to get into the industry. Brand new this year, on Fri 16 August, we have organised a special ‘Go Behind the Scenes’ day, where anyone interested in getting their work seen in the festival can book to see both shows on that day, plus a meet and greet with the performing companies and festival organisers – all for just £15. We are also excited to be running our first ever ‘Performing with Marionettes’ weekend course (which is already sold out I’m afraid) for those people interested in this endangered, heritage craft. There are other short adult courses in puppetry performance, so it’s worth checking out the website for more info.
Will you be running another internship at LAT this year, and tying it in to the Festival?
So, last year our Design Trainee, Ash Appadu, was invited to showcase their amazing work, Where the Water Falls in the 2023 festival. We are very excited to share that we have just recruited our new trainee for 2024-25, who will be completing their traineeship in 2025 with a showcase in next year’s festival. We will be announcing this up and coming artist very soon, so watch this space.
Since last year LAT has been awarded the Stage’s Best Fringe Theatre award. Has that made a difference to the general perception of your unique venue? Might it encourage more people along to the Festival this summer?
We certainly hope that more people will be encouraged to come along to the festival this year, so let’s see! Like the Offie Award, we were absolutely thrilled to win The Stage’s Best Fringe Theatre award. I would say that the perception is that we are more than just a fringe theatre that makes great puppet shows, but actually we are an organisation who do an enormous amount of work to make live performance accessible to huge numbers of children and families across London, whilst being committed to artistic innovation through supporting the next generation of artists and makers.
Thanks again to Oliver for telling us about this exciting summer event. The Little Angel Children’s Puppet Festival runs from 2-16 August. You can find out all about it and how to book here.
