Beverley Based Puppet Company Bring It Back Home

Following international success and productions for stage and screen, a local puppet theatre company returns to invite East Riding Theatre audiences on an adventure into Wonderland.

Beverley based Indigo Moon Theatre are preparing to make a rare appearance in their home town this weekend with their locally inspired production of Alice and the White Rabbit at East Riding Theatre. The internationally renowned touring puppet theatre company’s artistic directors are Anna Ingleby and Haviel Perdana who specialise in shadow puppetry and also have a studio theatre space in Hull.

Anna, who is also the artistic director of Beverley Puppet Festival, said:

“We are very much looking forward to bringing ‘Alice’ back to Beverley and performing to our local community. The show was inspired by the stone carving of a pilgrim rabbit – or some say it’s a hare – in St Mary’s Church, which itself is said to have inspired the character of the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. We thought the 150th anniversary of the book’s publication would be the perfect time to reintroduce the production, which is on Sunday 1st November at East Riding Theatre.”

It has been a whirlwind year for both the Beverley Puppet Festival and Indigo Moon Theatre. The 2014 festival, which Anna founded in 2005 and now directs biennially with Beverley Arts Trust, achieved a Remarkable East Yorkshire Tourism Award for best small event.

In addition to this, Haviel and Anna have had many personal successes with Indigo Moon having been approached to produce work for the TV show Peaky Blinders and Take That 3’s Summer Arena Tour, which was directed by Kim Gavin who also directed the Olympic Games closing ceremony. And in October, the company were the only ones to be invited from Great Britain to perform at the triennial International Shadow Theatre Festival in Schwabisch Gmund, Germany.

Anna continues:

“Puppetry is an art form that can transcend language, age, ability. We have toured internationally and Alice and the White Rabbit has been in production since 2008, some venues have had it back two or three times because it is so accessible.”

“We are delighted to have the chance to work with East Riding Theatre again in November; all ages are welcome to book a place on the post show workshop at 3.15pm when we will be presenting various shadow theatre techniques in a participatory demonstration.”

“On the same day at 4.15pm we are inviting people to join us at the free Film Premiere of Havi Ibrahim’s documentary film of the 2014 Beverley Puppet Festival. It will be a whirlwind day to follow a whirlwind year – but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way!”