Upfront Puppet Theatre in Cumbria obtains planning permission for purpose built Puppet Theatre

November 2009

John Parkinson at the Upfront Puppet Theatre in Penrith Cumbria has succeeded in obtaining planning permission for a purpose built puppet theatre and museum. John says, “The theatre plans are now passed for a flexible timber built totally Eco puppet theatre and museum. The theatre space will have a gallery at first floor height to allow for puppet bridges in many positions. There will also be a pit in the floor to allow rod puppets to be operated at the same height as marionettes. The roof shape is to allow for lighting bars and is also designed for the acoustic of the space.

There will be a lift to the first floor which will also access the first floor of the 17th. century barn alongside the development. This houses an art gallery and vegetarian coffee shop which will support the catering needs of the theatre.

The building alongside the theatre will be a puppet museum and interpretation space.
The proposal at this stage is to focus on the history of British puppetry from early medieval times to the key players today.

The Little Angel London, the Norwich Puppet Theatre, the Harlequin Theatre in Wales and Bigger in Scotland have all inspired our plans and we have visited and admired them all. We are keen to establish links with other companies, to tell their stories and to begin to show their work.

At this stage all ideas are welcome to move the plan forward.
We are now well on the way to raise the £ 350,000 build cost and own the land valued at £50,000” (Upfront is a without profit company established to promote the art of puppetry and mask performance.)

“We already have the 80 Stan Parker puppets purchased by Heritage Lottery and we are in negotiation to become a recognised Small museum with our own curator. We also have a small collection of puppets relating to their history in Cumbria. This will help us to negotiate with museums to show puppets on a long term loan basis from collections otherwise never seen. Funds from this will help to support the theatre building and productions and some income could be set aside to support organisations lending material for display.

We are now in a position to ask for help and support from puppeteers and related organisations to put together an exhibition to demonstrate the culture of puppetry in this country. One of our aims is to establish an international puppet festival, we feel well placed to do this because of our location near to the Lake District.

We also have large on site workshops and rehearsal space and we are linking with other companies as a production resource.”

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