The Beverley Puppet Festival
12th - 14th July 2024
by Alissa Mello & Mike Kelly

The Beverley Puppet Festival was founded by puppetry artist, Anna Ingleby, in her hometown in 2005. What began as a way to bring the creative arts to this East Yorkshire market town, which at the time had no established theater or cinema, has grown into a community led endeavor that for a time transforms the entire town to a vibrant, family friendly puppetry delight.

The festival is run by a dedicated group of freelancers and volunteers and held in diverse theatrical, community and public spaces. The performances are curated with all age ranges in mind from the early years to adults. The schedule was packed and while we, PI designer Mike Kelly and I, were not able to see everything, of the forty-two possible shows (ticketed and free) and events, we were able to attend thirteen ticketed shows, catch five of the street performances and join in a couple of open puppet making activities for kids (unfortunately due to schedules we were not able to attend Judith Hopes workshop for adults and enthusiasts that started the day before performances). The energy and enthusiasm of those around us—organizers, audience, and puppeteers—was infectious and included a significant number of locals as well as folk who traveled long distances to be there.

The festival opened with Tatwood Puppets’ Cabinet of Curiosities (tatwoodpuppets.co.uk) for audiences ages 14+ with live music and beautifully crafted puppets followed the same evening in a different venue by Matthew Robins’ A Million Tiny Ants (sadlucy.com). Robin’s show combined an original collection of his songs performed live with overhead shadow puppetry performed by Tim Spooner to weave tales of love, loss and friendship.

The diversity of performances for different age groups, styles of puppetry, and stories made for a rich experience over such a short time period of time. Belinda May’s Workhouse Stories regaled us with stories from a long term resident in a Yorkshire workhouse in 1880. It was an intimate table-top show performed in a cozy common room to an audience of about 20 reclining on couches.

In the same building, The Magical Paper Theatre (tmptlondon.co.uk) performed an intricate, large scale victorian styled toy theater enactment of Pinochio. Down the road,  Caroline Ada of Swallow Wings Puppetry (swallowsingspuppetry.co.uk) performed Anasi and the Lost Sun a inspiring and amusing stories from West Africa based on the Akan folktale character, Anasi, using colorful puppets, whose materials often added to the soundscape, that were crafted using found and repurposed materials.

Shows spanned a gamut of different scales and styles of entertainment. The critically acclaimed Breathe by Half a String (halfastring.co.uk) artfully used video technology for close-up and alternative perspectives then the stage frame in combination with puppetry and music to take the audience on an acorn’s early journey to becoming a tree.

While Veronica Gonzalez’s cabaret style show Once Upon A Time Two Feet (veronicagonzalez.it) that recalled the witty and sometimes poignant body puppetry techniques of Hugo & Inés from Peru delighted the audience.
Stephen Mottram’s simple but never simplistic string marionette show Moments from in Suspension demonstrated the power and nuance that can be evoked by this particular puppetry style.

A personal favorite was Don’t Panic Puppet Theater’s (dontpanicpuppettheater.blogspot.com/)
table-top show Do You Sing in the Shower? That took shower taking and magical accompaniment by towels, bathroom fixtures and bubbles to a delightful extreme.

Puppets also filled the streets of Beverley. Large walk-about puppets could be seen throughout the weekend such as Liz Dorton’s The White Rabbit, Wild Giant Arts Wandering Wizard, and Red Thing Creations Eikthynir The Elk.

Alongside these were street performances from companies such as Thingumajig Theatre’s (/thingumajig.info) pair of pop-up puppet shows, The Story of the Scary Noise and The Magic Samovar, and Liz Lempen’s The Fisher and His Wife.

In addition to these there were tented spaces in the Friary Garden for performances including Clive Chandler’s much beloved Punch & Judy and About Face Theatre Company’s We Are All Stories as well as a puppet making space crowded with children and parents making wheelie and sausage dog puppets. These freely available shows and activities fostered community connections and created opportunities for everyone who wanted to engage with the festival events in casual but meaningful ways. The festival was filled with a wide range of puppetry styles and aesthetics and there truly was something for everyone.

The Beverley Puppet Festival is held biennially on even years in July. Visit their website at beverleypuppetfestival.com to learn more about their history and join their mailing for news about 2026 and their ongoing outreach in the community.