Firm festival favourites Les Enfants Terribles have returned to the Fringe this year with The Trench, the story of a man trapped underground in a collapsed tunnel beneath the battlefields of France during World War One. We follow him as he encounters demons buried in the mud and comes to terms with the loss of his […]

Bunk Puppets, 2011 Total Theatre Award winners, have returned to the Fringe this year with another devilishly ingenious production. Slapdash Galaxy is Jeff Atchem’s usual brand of one-man makeshift shadow puppet extravaganza, but this time we are told the story of two brothers who are forced to go on a fantastical journey into outer space. And, as […]

Mixing traditional tales from around the world (including the Native American story of the crow who stole the daylight) into a narrative about the necessary balance between day and night and the value of both, Ripstop Theatre’s beautifully titled Luminous Tales is billed as a ‘gentle journey through the darkness of night, over the light of the […]

Odd Doll Theatre of Puppetry, based in Leeds and making its London debut this month at the Roundhouse, is aptly named. The hero of Odd Doll’s showThe Trick, a large bunraku puppet, is an uncanny figure. He is pale and gaunt, with deep, dark, hollow eyes set in his pale, skeletal head. Bony fingers distinguish […]

A bed, a bedside lamp, a goldfish (puppet) in a fish tank, and a projection on the bedroom curtains of a mouthless puppet girl, strolling, running, swimming, dancing, flying. A real girl storms into the space through the door, into her bedroom space, her sanctuary, her solitary world; she’s exhausted, she’s troubled, she’s puzzled and […]