PUPPET DUO ENTERTAIN WITH THEIR FOOLISH TALES
Monday 19th Jul 2010 09:23:10
Watch out! – there are puppets about. The eccentric duo, General Peter Sturgeon and his loyal friend Ruff Ruffson take you on a strange but glorious journey as they recount their adventures in Foolish Tales at Threlkeld Village Hall on Saturday 24 July at 11am.
Fast-paced and hilarious, with a mix of hand-operated and shadow puppetry, with live sound and song, Foolish Tales is a visually stunning and truly magical show. Suitable for children of all ages (and grown ups too), audiences are sure to be surprised and enchanted.
The piece draws from and interlinks a selection of traditional Russian folk tales, which, although having similarities with English tales are just that little bit different. The project has enabled several practitioners to come together to pool long-served skills and ideas to bring about a re-invention of rich historical traditions, employing new forms and technologies. Those working on the show include Russell Burbush (of New Music North Ltd, composer and musician), Ali McCaw (of theatre company Changeling Productions, puppeteer / designer), and Celia Burbush (also of NMN, fine artist and theatre designer).
Russell, a resident of St Johns in the Vale, explains “We wanted to stage the puppet show in a local venue so that we could make it as accessible as possible to the local community. We wanted to create a piece of work that was aimed primarily at children but that incorporated several different disciplines and introduced the audience to something new. After seeing the great reaction that the children had to puppetry in some of our recent work with Creative Partnerships, creating and staging Foolish Tales seemed like a logical next step”.
New Music North and Changeling Productions are both members of the West Cumbria Arts Partnership and are extremely active in encouraging arts participation and increasing exposure to the arts within local communities. They have been involved in several Creative Partnership projects across the county over recent months working with schools in Cleator Moor, Workington, Carlisle and Whitehaven, amongst others.
“As part of a Creative Partnerships project, we were commissioned to work with the pupils of Langdale School over a 15 week period to create a presentation involving music, storytelling and puppetry. Ali worked with the children to create props and puppets and I worked with them on the music. The piece, entitled ‘The Adventures of Yxa Fralsar’, was performed in the grounds of the school. The pupils and teachers had a great time.”
“The Creative Partnership projects are all about working with the children to devise the finished pieces. We don’t go into the school with a rigid programme that the children have to follow. The concepts and processes are shaped by the children’s ideas and they have control over where they want to take things. It’s a great way to work – and a great learning curve for everyone involved; not only for the children, but the teachers and even the practitioners! The work that we do encourages ownership, promotes social creativity and increases participation in cross curriculum activity. But as well as all these things – it’s also fun!”
The Foolish Tales show lasts for around 50 minutes. Tickets are priced at £5 for adults, £3.50 for children and £4 for all other concessions and are available by calling Russell on 07799627803 or Celia on 07799627804. Alternatively, you can send a cheque to Shundraw Farm, St Johns in the Vale, Keswick, CA12 4RR made out to New Music North Ltd. for the required amount. Please include the number of tickets you need along with your name and telephone number.
For further information on New Music North, and the other projects they are involved in, please visit www.newmusicnorth.co.uk or call Russell Burbush on 07799627803.
New Music North is an active member of the West Cumbrian Arts Partnership, a loose consortium of performing arts organisations and individuals who are committed to developing participatory work in a community context within West Cumbria. The partnership recognises the strength of working collectively rather than individually and strategy and practice are developed collectively between partners.
