2008 Buxton Puppet Festival

By Chris Agnew

Another resounding success for the 2008 Buxton Puppet Festival, presented by Buxton Opera House and Funny Wonders, which this year had a truly international feel. And the rain kept away - mostly.

Puran Bahtt, Ishamudin Khan and Anarupa Roy travelled from India to join us, with superb performances, workshops and a lecture on Traditional Indian Puppetry. Giant Parade Puppets, Rajasthani Marionettes and Magic brought a wonderful exhuberance to the venues and streets of Buxton.

Nori Sawa, Buxtons favourite Japanese performer let us get up close to his puppets and himself in The Paupers Pit in a generous sharing of his work. And many, many more performers shared their work. Of particular note was About Face Theatre Company with The Red Dress - a beautiful table-top performance sensitively presented by disabled actors.

The Silk Road. Funny Wonders Youth Puppet Theatre Company presented a multi-media extravaganza with, live music, puppets, dance and digital imagery on the stage of Buxton Opera House to a very appreciative audience. They were joined by Aya Nakamura and students from the Rajasthani Marionettes master-class and concluded with a parade of Giant Puppets. Our young people of Buxton are now definitely stage and puppet-struck and already planning their next project!

We wish to extend our thanks to all who came to perform, participate and help. Thanks, particularly to Andrew Aughton, Chief Executive of Buxton Opera House for his continued support and belief in the work Funny Wonders is doing.

For more information, photos of shows and workshops click on link in right hand pane >>>