News from Up-Front Arts Limited
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Plans Passed for New Puppet Theatre Building
NEWS
The designs for a new puppet theatre building, puppet museum and workshop areas have been approved and the company are in the process of fund raising to achieve the dream of building a specially resourced centre for puppetry. It is planned that the building will provide facilities that match puppet theatres on the continent. This will enhance the company’s own productions and enable visiting companies to visit, bringing less equipment with them. The museum will house and exhibit Upfront’s growing collection of puppets from around the world and will also host exhibitions from other puppet collections in Great Britain. The building will have front of house resources and also storage and construction workshops for the company. There will be a dedicated separate education/ performance/workshop area for practical exploration of the art and history of puppetry.
About Upfront Arts
Upfront Arts Ltd. was established in 2003 as a without profit company, to promote the arts of puppetry, mask and mime, and the performing arts.
The work of Upfront Arts has been nurtured with the support of workshop space and office space provided by Upfront Gallery.
Upfront Puppet Theatre has been creating performances for the last five years in it’s own intimate 80- seat venue. Details of these shows are archived under the puppet theatre section of this web site under “past productions”
The company was formed by John Parkinson who initially trained as a theatre designer with the English National Opera design School London, now the Motley Design School in Drury Lane. John is passionate about the art form and history of puppets of all types and included puppets in many of his mainstream theatre productions.
Upfront Arts provide workshops in schools throughout Cumbria and beyond. Annual Christmas shows are well supported by schools. The after show “meet the puppet and puppeteers” sessions are very successful. For many of the young audience members it has become one of their first experiences of a live theatre show. Schools interested in booking workshops are invited to apply for further details in the contact area of the general website.
Upfront Arts also have become the owners of a historically important collection of trick marionette puppets, made by Stan Parker of Carlisle. (www.stanparkerpuppets.co.uk) A Heritage Lottery grant was given to purchase the puppets and a yellow and white framed “circus” tent. The company have re-staged Stanelli’s Super Circus in a new setting and it appears in festivals throughout the year. In 1999 the circus was invited to perform at an international puppet festival in Slupske in Poland. A list of events for this year is given below
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Barrow “Zircus Festival” Sat.Sun. 5th, 6th June
Dent Folk Festival Sat. 26th June
Brampton Live Sat. Sun. 17th, 18th July
Carlisle Fire Show Sat. 6th Nov.
Mistlebach International Puppet Festival 25th – 31st Oct.
"The Seed Carriers"
Promoted by Upfront Arts, the performance will take place at Penrith Playhouse on Sunday 1st August at 7:30pm. Tickets £8:00 . Not suitable for anyone under15 years of age. For bookings please telephone Upfront Gallery (017684 84538).
"The Seed Carriers" is an adult only marionette production by Stephen Mottram, who is one of the U.K.'s leading puppeteers. His work is reknowned and he has toured the show all over Europe. Glyn Perrin's remarkable music conspires with Stephen Mottram's dark parable to produce a dreamworld which is beautiful, horrific and haunting.
The seed carriers look just like people, but are more like insects or plants. Vulnerable and defenceless, they are harvested for the valuble seeds they carry in their bodies.
The production is a startling fusion of performance with music and the visual arts. There are more than 40 carved, wooden puppets as well as sculptural automata.
Like the snatched scenes from a nightmare the little bodies are torn apart for their seeds….
The show is contained within a small, raised, elliptical shaped stage, enclosed by black curtains. It is a dark and mysterious play metaphorically as well as physically.
In a style that reflects influences from sources as diverse as the fifteenth century paintings of Hieronymus Bosch to the films of the Quay Brothers, the action and sound blend together to produce a hypnotic, gripping and shocking experience. Glyn Perrin’s score is an acoustic picture in its own right, which heightens the dramatic tension.
The human-like marionettes are the protagonists – the seed carriers. As they crawl and leap about the stage area, the least nimble are collected in a large net, or caught in traps by the only live performer (Stephen Mottram), an ambiguous figure who both grows and then harvests these creatures.
“Brilliant…. Definitely not to be missed”The Guardian “It’s not just Mottram’s exquisite craft but his potent vision which merits our attention.” The