Each individual who takes part is central to the theatrical space & action; venturing on a magical voyage, becoming the hero or heroine of a noble quest. We give free reign to the imagination & curiosity, encouraging our audiences to explore space, handle materials & objects & encounter puppets with all senses alert. We gently guide these though to a communal outcome in which we all can share & celebrate.
Shadow Theatre
Light & shadow can transform everyday objects, materials & places into the curious & mysterious. Large, dramatic effects are achieved with the simplest of means: a suspended screen or drapes & low tech light sources such as torches, overhead projectors & magic lanterns.
An expressive shadow puppet can be made quickly & easily by participants, inclusive of their age or ability & instantly become part of the narrative, empowering each individual who takes part..
-
- Gallery
-
- Spring Equinox
-
- Spring Equinox
-
- Spring Equinox
-
- Spring Equinox
-
- Spring Equinox
Spring Equinox
Ryedale Special Families & Dalby Forest
Shadow theatre workshop exploring the coming of the sun to a woodland frozen in the icy grip of Winter. Children help bring back all the creatures that have hibernated or migrated & celebrate the return of spring.
‘The session was fantastic. An absolute treat for the participants and I’m sure they told you that at the time.’
Lisa Keenan, Ryedale Special Families.
-
- Gallery
-
- The Deep
-
- The Deep
-
- The Deep
-
- The Deep
-
- The Deep
The Deep
Woodlands Special Needs Academy
A short improvised show to test the effectiveness of devising multi sensory shadow theatre with & for special needs children. Sand & other tactile, light sensitive objects & puppets were placed & played with upon a large light box ‘stage’. Responses from pupils & feed back from teachers enthusiastic so we are now galvanised to seek sources of funding to research & develop this exciting work further.
-
- Gallery
Albert Ross & the Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Commissioned for the Rollercoastival Children’s Art Festival
An interactive shadow theatre performance. The legendary Bird yet lives to tell the tale of his adventurous voyage to the Antarctic. Children sail with Capt. Albert Ross through unearthly ice & sea scapes where they help change the outcome of this fateful tale of man’s disregard for the natural world. In a joyful conclusion they bring life back to the wastes of sea & sky by making & operating shadow puppets of endangered & extinct sea creatures.
-
- Gallery
Turn the Tide
A Black Light & Shadow Theatre Environment Commissioned for the Rollercoastival Children’s Art Festival
Vivify can transform your school hall or classroom into a magical underwater environment where children meet Neptune, king of the oceans and his endangered sea creatures. We experience what it is like to live in a polluted sea with threatening shadows above & around us.
Considering ways in which we might save our seas we finally make & repopulate the underwater environment with shadow & UV puppets of sea creatures made from recycled materials.
Besides creating children get the chance to be operators of this wonderful spectacle!
Seal Haunting
An Imove/Sea Swim Artist’s Beach Hut Residency, Scarborough South Shore
‘Seal Haunting’ explores the ancient belief that seals & humans can cross identities & become enchanted into each others form.
The dark enclosure of a beach hut was transformed by light & shadow into a mysterious under water environment where touch, texture, movement & sound evoked our bodies’ memory of the sea & of the seal’s transformation as told in the haunting tale of the Selkie Bride.
-
- Gallery
Paper Palace
Commissioned by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Can you awaken Sleeping Beauty & the Enchanted Castle from the wicked fairy’s spell?
Based on the classic fairy tale children made & operated simple shadow puppets & sang songs to bring life and light back to a radiant palace constructed of paper lanterns.
-
- Gallery
Small World
Light emerges from darkness & a small world comes into being.
Commissioned by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Created in response to the Isamu Noguchi exhibition, we related his sculptural concerns to early Creation Myths when earth & sky separated & distinct elements, earth, air, fire & water emerged out of chaos & combined to form first life.
From the process of manipulating & making with elemental materials such as clay, sand, wood & paper, small worlds & life forms evolve to become part of a larger animated & interactive environment.
Participants seamlessly become players in a ritual of creation.
-
- Gallery
Enchanted Forest
‘Where nothing is what it seems & anything can happen!’
Commissioned by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Wearing noble attire children bravely enter the shadowy realm of the Enchanted Forest where all living things have been frozen in a spell of perpetual winter..Our quest, as in medieval tales of valor, is to drive out the Shadowmancer & his black crow who steal all that is bright. Each child makes a magic orb of light to carry into the woods to revive the sun & season’s cycle. The dark forest is transformed into a green & colorful glade where the Green Man returns to life & joins the children processing outside, waving banners in joyful celebration.
-
- Gallery
The Spell of Creation
Commissioned by Scarborough Festival of Light & revised for Musicport
A devised immersive shadow theatre performance in & around the Dome of Dreams.
This was our collective response to a poem by Kathleen Raine, incorporating puppetry, dance, projection, sampled sound & live music.
The audience were encompassed by images of light emerging out of darkness which combined & transformed in a celebration of the natural world.