'Puppetry is closest adults get to awe and magic'

Hannah Southfield said puppetry is like "real life magic"

Choose your character, find a stage and immerse yourself in a world where anything is possible.

That is what people in puppetry have been doing for years in an industry that may be small, but is spectacularly mighty.

Artists in the sector can be found in small pockets across the west, in studios and warehouses surrounded by paper mache and a hoard of puppets that stare you down while sitting on their high shelves upon entry.

Ms Southfield said Puppets create a unique connection with their audiences

Puppet maker and director Hannah Southfield works with Bath Carnival and theatres such as The Egg in Somerset, Bristol Old Vic and the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre.

She said after spending a lot of time making a puppet in a room on your own, when you watch a puppeteer work with it, "it's like real life magic".

"As an adult it's the closest you can get to awe and magic," she said.

Ms Southfield started creating puppets in 2018 after a career change from teaching psychology at the University of Bath.

At the time she was also mentored by Nick Barnes who did all of the puppetry for the Life of Pi theatre show.

"I loved animals and watching how people connect with puppets and I wanted to take it a bit further.

"I made a life-size Asian elephant, I'll never make a puppet like her again, she's called Bhatari.

Ms Southfield was mentored early on in her career by the puppet maker for the Life of Pi theatre show

"I feel like you have a more personal connection to puppets.

"Once I give my puppets a name I start treating them like they're alive.

"It's been an interesting year, I feel like post-Covid we had this kind of false positive in an upsurge of work."

Then at the beginning of this year she said the work started to taper off, "the work just wasn't there".

"Puppets are not cheap they're labour intensive to make and keep running so it's not been working very well with the current economy.

"I love how puppetry engages people in a way that creates a very special relationship between the audience and the puppet.

"A different kind of connection," she added.

Anna Harriott said working with puppets takes a lot of preparation

Wiltshire-based puppeteer of eight years, Anna Harriott said some of the mannerisms of the puppets she works with stay with her.

"There was a play we did with Tall Trees that needed a life sized dog, we just made one and it turned out I had an aptitude for working with it," she said.

"Since working with it there's a weird thing I still do with my breath, a sound.

Ms Harriot has worked with Tall Tree Theatre in Salisbury for years and has always enjoyed "the line you have to tread between creativity and being accurate and precise".

Ms Harriott said she loves the "physical challenge of puppetry"

"If you think like the puppet you're halfway there, the rest is technical.

"I love the physical challenge of puppetry, it's a process that I really have to prepare myself for and get ready for not being able to work with it properly until the muscle memory sets in.

"I don't think anyone really knows how much it costs to make them it's very expensive.

"But in the world of puppets there's loads going on in the South West," she added.

Paul Batten said he loves doing performances in schools and small community venues

Cotswolds-based artist Paul Batten has brought his own sets, puppets and performances to schools across Gloucestershire as Theatrix Arts, since 2010.

He also performs in community centres and theatres across the UK.

"Puppets are my favourite things to make because I can tell stories with them," he said.

"Even though I've done big theatre shows I love going out to smaller spaces.

"The joy of going into a village hall and setting up a stage for a small audience, it's that community feel and then I get to stay and talk with the kids about the puppets."

Mr Batten said puppetry reminds adults of their childhoods

Mr Batten said it is not just the children that love the performances.

"I love that it reminds mums and dads and grandads of their childhoods too.

"There are certain things that you can't achieve without a puppet, like when you watch the play Warhorse and you see the horse breathe, that's a magic that can't be recreated in another way.

"I do still talk to them when I'm packing them away because you've breathed life into these inanimate objects, you care for them," he added.

Kieran R. Leonard recently became obsessed with puppetry after getting involved with Bristol group Puppet Place

Bristol-based puppet maker and puppeteer Kieran R. Leonard recently joined a group called Puppet Place and "hasn't looked back" since.

"I've always had an interest in art, engineering and playing with Lego and puppetry is the amalgamation of all of those things and you can’t escape the play element of it too," he said.

"The people at Puppet Place are welcoming, not gatekeeping and very helpful. That’s something I really needed."

Mr Leonard said he always had an interest in art and engineering, skills that translate well into puppetry

"When I started out I was very eager and always turned up to Puppet Place to just help and make things."

He said it is something that does not always make everyone money, "but if you're passionate about it you'll do it anyway".

"If you're interested in puppetry, get into the community and get the right people around you," he added.