The eagerly awaited biennial Beverley Puppet Festival returns to East Yorkshire from 11th to 13th July with a full programme for children and adults, now available online via the new festival website and in the newly released brochure.
The festival’s Artistic Director, Anna Ingleby, said:
“It has been two years since Beverley Puppet Festival livened up the town’s streets and its return has been highly anticipated. Tickets are now on sale at Beverley Tourist Information Centre and Beverley Old Bookshop plus, in a festival first. we are now selling tickets online via our brand-new website www.beverleypuppetfestival.com and on our Facebook page.”
“We have endeavored to ensure the weekend features acts for all ages, with 24 ticketed shows for children and adults plus children’s workshops, tickets for which are also on sale now. We also have an exciting programme of street theatre in Beverley Town Centre, which is free.”
An alien invasion of the woolly kind will launch Beverley Puppet Festival on 11th July, when Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre’s Socks in Space lands in Beverley. Described as ‘The Abbott & Costello of the sock world’ by Time Out, the satirical show has received rave reviews. Headline evening shows also include the highly acclaimed Stephen Mottram’s Animata – In Suspension and Sokobauno’s Galoshins and The Horseman’s Word.
Due to the popularity of adult evening performances, a brand new programme of daytime shows has also been added. The daytime Adult Shorts are 20-minute performances and feature veteran puppeteer Jane Eve, renowned for her work with The Little Angel Theatre in London, who will be performing Pierrot Lunaire with the Portobello Booth company, and London-based company. On the Other Hand, who bring their acclaimed Moving Tales.
This year’s children’s shows feature fairy tales, larger than life insects and monsters in pianos from puppet companies, including, Garlic Theatre, Odd Doll Theatre of Puppetry, String Theatre, Indefinite Articles, Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre, Sea Legs Puppet Theatre, Pickled Image and Beverley / Hull based Indigo Moon Theatre.
In addition to its other town centre venues (which includes Armstrongs and the Masonic Hall) the festival team is taking over Beverley Friary in a bid to make the Festival Hub even more vibrant than before. The Hub will feature puppet shows for children and adults plus children’s workshops, face painting, film screenings, stalls, specialist puppetry displays and books, a puppet caravan, acoustic music plus a bar and food.
Anna added;
“The majority of puppet companies will be from the UK, making this a major showcase of home-grown talent and arguably, the largest festival of British puppetry in the world. The festival, a Beverley Arts Trust event, attracted over 4000 people to the ticketed and free events in 2012 and we hope to keep growing the event for future years.”
“This would not happen without financial support from lottery funding through Arts Council England plus funding from East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Beverley Town Council and we are very grateful to them for their continued help.”
