London Puppetry Festival

October 2009

SUSPENSE: London Puppetry Festival ‘09 is the first festival of puppetry to take place in London for over 25 years. All the work programmed is for adults. Over 10 days a range of performances, master classes and symposia will take place at seven venues across the capital from 30 October to 08 November 2009
SUSPENSE will explode the myths that currently surround puppetry in this country, proving that puppets aren’t just for kids. It will showcase a diverse range of contemporary work from UK and international practitioners, bringing puppetry to new adult audiences.

Puppetry is going through a renaissance in the UK with productions such as War Horse by the National Theatre, Anthony Minghella’s Madam Butterfly for the ENO, Avenue Q and the RSC’s Venus and Adonis (in association with Little Angel Theatre) revealing how sophisticated, irrational, grotesque and potent the artform can be. The work programmed for SUSPENSE represents not only the changing landscape of puppetry in the UK but a challenge to the way theatre is made – opening new doors of expressiveness.

Little Angel Theatre is leading the creation of SUSPENSE alongside a diverse range of venue partners. Founded in 1961, Little Angel has flown the flag of puppetry in the UK for nearly 50 years continuing to offer opportunities for performance, research, education and professional training in the art-form.