LSP goes to Copenhagen!

From March 22nd-29th, LSP went on tour to the Copenhagen Puppet Festival in Denmark. It was an exciting week where we performed for adult audiences, attended puppetry seminars and collaborated with a puppetry school from Poland (Ludwik Solski Statsskole for Drama in Krakow, Wroclaw).

For more information about the festival, visit http://www.puppetfestival.dk/natscene/kabaret/

Here are some photos from our trip:


Outside the Basement theatre space




Hanging out in the living room area

Photo from "Edit(h)", a show we saw which integrated puppetry with acting and new media.

Ann Campion and Caroline Astell-Burt running their seminar on puppetry in education and therapy.

Caroline doing a presentation about LSP. The head teachers from puppetry schools in Poland and Berlin also spoke about how their schools work and train students in puppetry. The aim of the session was to launch discussions about establishing a theatre education in puppetry in Denmark and what significance this would have for Danish stage arts in general.

The Seminar was rounded off with a brilliant and hilarious performance called "Rasant", created as a second year assignment by two German students of puppetry ("Rasant" is an up-tempo spoof on the Nineties film "Speed").

Barnaby (organiser for the Copenhagen Puppet Festival) and Kay at Danish TV2/Lorry studios. They both were interviewed about the festival on the Danish breakfast show, "Brunch". Kay's puppet "Yorick" also made an appearance eating crisps and trying to look like he understood Danish.

LSP and the Polish Puppetry school. We performed for "Natscenen" (Night Scene), a series of free cabaret night performances to showcase the work from both our schools. We also worked together to perform some collaborative pieces at the "Crash Test" night on the final day of the festival.

Back row: Miwash, Caroline, Kate, Emma, Kat

Middle row: Kasia, Kay, Celia, Krzysztof

Front: Ola, Asia

Celia and Emma backstage during "Natscenen"

Miwash performing with his glove puppet.

Kasia, Asia and Ola performing with their bunraku-style puppet.

"The Bagman" - a collaborative piece with Asia, Emma and Kat

"No Radish For My Babka" - a collaborative piece with Kasia, Kate, Kay and Miwash

"Flour Tale" - a collaborative piece with Celia and Ola

Celia and Ola having fun cleaning up after the show

Sightseeing in Copenhagen: Celia, Emma and Kate

Kat and Kay at Christiania (a folk village in the middle of Copenhagen)

Enjoying an afternoon off: Kat, Kate, Celia, Em, Kay

Ophelia and Shakespeare visit Elsinore. Kate and Kay took some puppets from their Shakespeare shows to Kronborg Castle, where Hamlet's father is said to have lived.

Kate with Ophelia and Shakespeare (and Shakespeare)

Kay with Yorick and Hamlet in front of Kronborg Castle

LSP performs at "Hatch" in Bradford

On Thursday 5th March, Kate, Emma, Kat, Kay and Caroline performed a variety of puppetry pieces at the Bradford Playhouse's third 'Hatch' night. 'Hatch' is the theatre's new experimental arts showcase night, with a programme packed with an eclectic variety of performance, film, installation and participatory activity, including:

* Stand-up Comedy by Sheila Stone
* Video installations by Janie Nicholl and Richard Crookes
* Sewing with the Bradford Playhouse wardrobe ladies
* Short films by Andy Sykes, Sarah Barbasch, Sven Shaw, Lucy Barker, Benjamin Richards and Of Dreaming Faces
* Musical performance by Gnu and the Shrew

The audiences were very warm and encouraging, and we had a great response from our performances. Here are some photos from the night:

Our puppetry programme for the night (as you can see, we performed our 'hand ballet' from the glove puppetry playtime - and it was well received!)

Emma and her puppet mingling with the crowd. She and Kate did some 'walk about' performances in the exhibition/bar space.

Emma and her puppet meet Kate and her marionette, "Aldo".

Kat adjusting her puppet from her "Wolfsbane" rod puppetry show during set up time.

Kay with "Barbara the Siren" from her "Nautical but Nice" rod show.