The Christmas Quest

Jane Leakey and the UV dragon from “The Christmas Quest”

Jane Leakey writes of her work on a Christmas production - and working with actors to teach them puppetry skills.

I have been writing puppet plays for many years and performing them with Fat Cat Theatre Company. I play all the characters myself with the help of my many glove puppets. Last year a local drama group – Somerset-based St Gregory Players -asked me to direct a Christmas production. I duly offered to write them a play which was immediately snapped up. I gave myself two months to write it but it didnt take that long at all. During the writing period the Group was fantastic as they left me alone and didnt want to know what the play was going to be about or when it would be ready. This ideal situation gave me time, space and creative freedom to do exactly what I wanted.

I decided to write a fantasy adventure in which I could bring to life any crazy and wonderful image that popped into my brain. When I write I feel as though the story, characters and dialogue are given to me, I just need to be open and listen and then write it all down.

“The Christmas Quest” is set in the mythical Kingdom of Myopia where our heroine, Nettydum Fooley, embarks on a dangerous quest to obtain a list of fantastical items - such as the nest egg of the Fire Dragon and the tear of a troll. As well as having a cast of twenty people I decided I wanted to add an extra dimension to the production with the addition of puppets, including snakes and monkeys in a jungle scene and furry animals in a wood.

I introduced the puppets: first a giant UV dragon. I had spent the summer creating the huge puppet which was actually a collection of dragon body parts – tail, torso, legs, head, fire and eyeballs. We spent weeks rehearsing a scene where all the parts fly through the air (starting with just the eyeballs) and gradually come together to form the fire-breathing beast. The actors worked really hard to ensure that it came to life and, crucially, not to block each other. The actors also came up trumps with full black outfits including hoods so they could not be seen at all on stage. As part of the UV scene we also had two life-sized bats and a giant spider.

It was important to stress to the actors the importance of puppets: although fun, they are not toys but working tools which, if used properly, can create a very powerful and memorable experience. They also learnt how to keep the puppet “alive”. I had to remind them a few times not to leave them on the floor!

Next followed the scene in the Dark Wood where some of the woodland animals make an appearance. We used some of my own collection of glove puppets and after a couple of rehearsals the actors got it and they produced a beautifully paced scene which I found very moving when performed along with the haunting background music and shafts of sunlight falling through a haze of mist in the depths of the forest. One of the actors later admitted that he wondered what on earth I was thinking when I initially handed out the puppets but after a couple of rehearsals he thought it was brilliant. I was really excited when the loudest of the gasps of delight during the performance were made by the adults in the audience.

One of my greatest challenges was teaching an actor to work a small hand puppet – Fang the dragon. Fang had to speak, so I spent a lot of time teaching the puppeteer how to synchronise her speech with the puppets mouth. She found this extraordinarily difficult to do. I also had to remind her to keep the puppet alive at all times which involved keeping the eyes up and forward as well as the body and also moving Fangs arm. After a lot of hard work this proved to be one of the most popular scenes with our audiences.

We had a cat glove puppet which was operated very successfully by our heroine. We designed a small wicker basket from where the cat would appear and then sit on which Nettydum wore most of the time. It was wonderful to see this alert little cat grooming and purring and looking most attentive throughout the play.

As I finished writing the play it seemed to call for a shadow puppet scene as Nettydum recounts her journey to her two little girls and all the characters rise from a roaring log fire for a final reprise. I tried to ignore this idea but it seemed imperative that I follow it. I went online and found a wonderful shadow puppeteer, Wendy Dacre of Raventale Puppets. She kindly offered to run a workshop just for us so I and some of the puppeteers met up with Wendy for a days crash course in making and operating shadow puppets. We were all very excited and came away inspired and fired up. The resulting scene was very beautiful and moving.

When I meet people who went to see the production they nearly always mention the giant UV dragon and how impressed they were with it. This really pleases me as I had never produced a UV scene before. One local chap told me everyone was raving about it the next morning on the local bus into town!

It is amazing what you can achieve if you have the right attitude and the production was a resounding success. I salute my actors for their dedication, fortitude and sense of humour. I also salute my brilliant crew whose lighting, sound, costumes, props and scenery helped to produce a stunning piece of theatre

I was absolutely thrilled with the final piece and the next step is to get the play published. I am also preparing to write the next one.

The Somerset County Gazette said:
“Jane Leakey, Fat Cat Theatre founder, puppeteer, wildlife photographer, actress and author/director of “The Christmas Quest”, has created an outstanding show which brings to mind many other iconic childrens works – Peter Pan, Alice, Wizard of Oz, Phantom Tolboth, Ivor the Engine. I was transported to a different world and enchanted...The real stars were the captivating puppets, from the pint-sized owl waving shyly in the wood, to the not-so-fierce Fang. And one of the best UV scenes I have ever seen, with the assembly of the Fire Dragon in mid-air”.

See videos from the show here.

January 2012