by Edith Cody-Rice
The Puppets Up! festival is an ongoing event right up to the festival itself which will happen on the weekend of August 12, 2022. This April will see three fundraiser Saturday puppet shows for children and their families performed at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, 3 Rosamond St E, in Almonte. Tickets are on sale now. The shows are:
- Pirate Treasure presented by Rock The Arts Puppets from Carp, April 2, 2022 at 11 am and 3 pm
- Punch and Judy: The Silly Version presented by Bob Stutt from Pembroke, Ontario, April 9, 2022 at 11 am and 3 pm and
- Felicity Falls presented by the Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre from Orleans, Ontario, , April 23, 2022 at 11 am and 3 pm
The Millstone interviewed the puppeteers.
Pirate Treasure, April 2, 2022
Puppeteer Sarah Argue, founder of Rock the Arts Puppets, describes her show as high energy and interactive. The children in the audience help the puppets during the show, she says. The story is about Eli, a little boy who lives in Creatureville. It involves a pirate ship led by Captain Kate, a fierce and strong woman who is accompanied by other puppets such as Corduroy Pete and under water sea creatures. Eli overcomes his fears by using his imagination. Sarah says her show is aimed at audiences from 4 to 99 years old. She loves to make adults laugh with their children and allow families to come for a break. During Covid she has been touring Canada virtually. The pandemic has put families under a lot of stress which she strives to relieve through puppetry and laughter.
Sarah told the Millstone that Noreen Young literally changed her life by inspiring her to go into puppetry. She was working a 9-5 job in a cubicle in Ottawa when she saw a flyer from Noreen for Puppets Up!. She remembered her from growing up with Noreen’s television series Under the Umbrella Tree. She took some holidays and attended a pre festival puppet workshop with Noreen in Almonte. Sarah was blown away that one could make a living as a puppeteer. That September she quit her job and set up her company. A complete novice when she started, she has been performing for over 10 years and has over 100 puppets. She also gives motivational talks. Sarah’s puppet company has performed at Puppets Up! three times.
Her coordinates are:
website: www.rtapuppets.com
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter: @rtapuppets
Punch and Judy: The Silly Version, April 9, 2022
Bob Stutt takes the iconic Punch and Judy show and adjusts it for a modern audience. He uses the traditional characters: Mr. Punch, his wife Judy, Toby the dog, the baby, and sets up segments involving them but the episodes are funny, not violent as in the original Punch show. Mr. Punch puts on a show for his family and friends and all goes awry to hilarious effect. This is the kind of show you can step into half way through and still understand it and have a good time.
Bob says his show is aimed at all ages. He wears a bag stage for his performance. His glove puppets hang from a belt. As a result Bob can perform in a very small space. He includes a juggling act in the performance.
Bob Stutt is coming out of retirement to perform at Puppets Up! He was primarily a television puppeteer during a long career. He started in the 1970s doing live shows all around North America and has worked with the Muppets, Noreen’s show Under the Umbrella Tree, Fraggle Rock and The Big Comfy Couch. Bob is thrilled that Puppets Up! is coming back and is excited to get out there to do a live show. He is also a big fan of the other puppet performers Sarah Argue and the Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre.
Felicity Falls April 23, 2022.
Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre founders Kathy MacLellan and John Nolan present gentle stories inspired by their own family life. They are targeting the age 3-8 age group with this performance. The stars are the Rabbit Family – mom, dad and two kids. Their neighbours are the Porcupines and the Weasels. All of the puppets resemble little stuffed toys and are designed to inspire children to go home and take out their own toys and use their imaginations.
The format is small, reassuring and comforting vignettes which send the message that in your family you are safe and loved and the community is supportive. As an example Kathy referenced two segments: one called Musical Beds in which all the characters end up in the wrong beds and a story of two children who play “hide the teddy bear” and then cannot find the bear. Nothing scary happens in the 5 small stories that make up the performance. Kathy said that she was thrilled with a note from a teacher who said that one of the children laughed so hard she fell off her chair.
Kathy and her husband John have been working in puppetry for 40 years and have created about 20 different shows. They have performed at Puppets Up! several times. Since they formed the Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre in the 1980s, they have traveled across Canada. Kathy was also a writer for Noreen’s Under the Umbrella Tree, for Mr. Dressup and Theodore Tugboat, all iconic television series.
John played a raccoon on the YTV series Crazy Quilt. The couple has had so much fun, Kathy says, and they have raised two kids doing this.
They now have a recording studio in their basement and have presented free shows for families. Their Puppets Up! appearance will be their first live performance in 2 years. Kathy observed that Puppets Up! is such an important festival, and, of course, they love Noreen. So they thought that this was an appropriate venue for their live reappearance.
People can join the Rag and Bone Theatre mailing list to find out about online events:
https://www.ragandbone.ca/Pages/contact.html
For more information on the festival and its pre festival events, visit Puppetsup.com
Don’t make the mistake of visiting puppetsup.ca, which may be on the right hand side of your screen when you google puppets up. It is a different site.
