Vivify create magical realms of the imagination where light & shadow, sound & animation transform everyday objects, materials & places into the curious & fantastical. Discoveries are made, tales & journeys unfold, rekindling in our audience a sense of awe & enchantment.
Through our site sensitive performances & installations we encourage young & marginalized audiences to engage with creative ideas & their surroundings. We are committed to bringing the experience of high quality & innovative arts to schools, communities & special groups who otherwise may have difficulty accessing these.
Who we are
Vivify was founded & is directed by puppeteer, sculptor & installation artist Viv Mousdell. She devises work in collaboration with a core group of creative colleagues who have a rich mix of backgrounds & skills that complement, converge & cross-fertilize each other.
Viv Mousdell
Jill of all trades, master of some! Viv was formerly a site-specific sculptor, carving in stone & wood with public commissions throughout the north of England.
Liking to cut across creative boundaries & challenge assumptions she subsequently trained as a professional puppeteer with the London School of Puppetry. She has gone on to create site-sensitive installations & puppet performances, exploring the interface between these with research, development & making awards from the Arts Council.
Viv was a Northern Arts Fellow with Welfare State International & Artist in Residence with the Centre for Performance Research. She has been commissioned by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Chrysalis Arts, Coastival & North Yorkshire County Council to develop & deliver numerous projects of creative engagement through puppetry.
Latterly Viv has been mentored by Horse & Bamboo Theatre & has been performing a summer season of solo shows in an eccentric seaside hotel, La Rosa, in Whitby.
Creative Collaborators:
Ian Hulme: Musician, Composer, & Sound Designer
Bill Hearnshaw: Musician, Lighting & Props Technician, Busker extraordinaire
Kate Rider: Community Artist, Forest Schools Practitioner, Props Designer & Maker
Jane Robinson: Choreographer, Performer, Theatre Designer & Maker
Simon Verhoef: Musician, Composer, Animator & Sound Engineer
Consultants:
Jo Drew: Movement Therapist & trainee Play Therapist
Amanda Caton: Special Needs Teacher, Autism Specialist
Sally Beausang: Occupational Therapist, Textile Artist
Adrienne Silcock: Writer, Poet, Creative Writing Tutor
Our Special Places:
We can either work with a given space or spaces, transforming classrooms, corridors & halls & outside landscapes with temporary structures & screens or else bring in our own special dismountable enclosures:
The Dome of Dreams
The Dome is a fully portable structure, erected & dismantled in under an hour. 20ft in diameter x 10ft in height, it can be placed in most school & village halls or pegged securely outside. A maximum audience of 30 can be seated on rugs & cushions with a few chairs around the edge (It is wheelchair friendly)
It is especially effective for shadow theatre & puppetry because of its excellent light & sound transmitting properties. Performers can therefor be on the outside projecting imagery to the audience seated on the inside or visa versa, either way it enables an immersive ‘in the round’ experience. For shadow theatre it requires darkness or blackout & an electricity supply. Alternatively, placed outside & illuminated by daylight, it is a nurturing & inspiring space for all kinds of creative workshops & an intimate venue for small scale performance.
To find out more about the structure view www.shelter-systems.com
The Hexplore
The Hexplore is a black hexagonal pop up gazebo 3.5 meters diameter. It offers an intimate ‘theatre in the round’ experience for a small audience with a solo storyteller/puppeteer and has good blackout for shadow & black light theatre & other lighting effects & projections.
Organisations & Artists we have worked with
Chrysalis Arts – Artist-led public art company and arts development agency – Link
Art Connections – Support and promotion for the visual arts in North Yorkshire – Link
North Yorkshire Open Studios – Link
Create – Regional Arts Development Agency – Link
Coastival – Regional Winter Arts Festival – Link
The Yorkshire Sculpture Park – Link
The Centre for Performance Research – Link
Horse & Bamboo – Established Mask & Puppet Theatre Company – Link
Welfare State – A collective of artists who explored celebratory art & spectacle – Link
Dodgy Clutch – An Outdoor Events and Theatre Company – Link
London School of Puppetry – Professional Puppeteers Training – Link
Skipton Puppet Festival – North Yorkshire Puppet Festival – Link
Hospital Arts for North East Yorkshire – Link
Dome d’ombre – Previous website – Link
La Rosa – Eccentric hotel & intimate venue for music & puppet shows – Link
Media Vision – Web & interactive display designers & artists – Link
Play of Light – Ian Hulme, composer & musician – Link
Jo Drew – Dance & movement therapist – Link
Adrienne Silcock – Writer & poet – Link
Alan Davis – Glass artist – Link