Little Angel Theatre: Sixty years strung

Who would have thought a question about what you like best on toast could lead to a mind-blowing adventure – an adventure that leaves spellbound children crying ‘it's a fix – it's funny, but it must be a fix’. Great love stories are often built on small beginnings, and North London locals’ love affair with grassroots puppetry powerhouse, Little Angel Theatre is no exception.

Started by John and Lindy Wright in 1961 as a marionette theatre with a handful of staff at Upper Street's historic Temperance Hall, Little Angel has now garnered an international reach through their digital programme and general expertise. With over a million YouTube views and 14,000 subscribers, they have shaped up to be a pretty smart outfit in the last 60 years. But like The Smartest Giant in Town (their first live show of the year, a musical adaptation from Lane and Barb Jungr) their main aim is to share it all with the community.

‘I'm really excited about the fact that we get to open, when we get to open our doors,’ says artistic director, Samantha Lane, ‘The Smartest Giant in Town [is] a huge family favourite. I read that to my kids when they were little and we love it. It's just such a joyful, wonderful story. Basically, just making a show with a giant in – that's pretty cool, right?’

Personal touches

From giant people to giant supernovas, Little Angel's vision knows no bounds – this year they'll also be continuing their work with Great Ormond Street Hospital, a tabletop bedside production which began in February, and is now fully digitised.

‘They make certain choices which then triggers the music for the show, but it also sends some code to create a unique planet linked to that particular child. So, the story is very simple – a human character wakes up in bed and goes on a sort of dreamscape and ends up staring at the stars. Using AR technology they can actually look at the planet that they've created. And at the end they get to further personalise that planet, so they can put a message onto it. Then that populates a website, so other children can go back and see, not only the planet that they've created, but the planets that other people have created, and they can explore them. It's got a legacy beyond the live experience.’ says Lane.

Out of this World

Community work is a key component in Little Angel's legacy, but it also extends to performances for adults and less conventional modes of puppetry. Former artistic director Christopher Leith enabled a change in direction by installing a forestage and Peter Glanville kept the momentum going by introducing the Suspense festival.

‘It's been a very forward-facing organisation all throughout its history. I think that's kind of why it's still around now, because it's always been about pushing boundaries. And again that was pushing the notion that puppetry isn't something that is just for children.’

‘We've also made a site-specific show in our studio space called Out of this World, using micro-cinema technology (really small cameras), so you can get up to the minute detail of the puppetry and that's projected on the screen, which is great.’ says Sam. They've also released their first digital short Let's Fly With Aziza! and plan to take the audience on an epic journey with a ‘choose your own adventure’ style production of Where the Bugaboo lives.

‘There are 16 possible paths through the story, based on how the audience votes. There is a chance that one path may never ever be chosen.’ Sam explains.

‘Encouraging new talent’

The studio space is located on Severn Street, a spot in the 20 percent most deprived areas in the UK, built to accommodate their puppetry projects – and all their visiting alumni no doubt, (Emma Tompkins, Sam Wilde and Jimmy Grimes to name a few – who are also interviewees for their ‘People Behind the Puppets’ series). One site alone is simply not enough, and neither is one party.

‘The problem is we've got such a small venue, we'll probably have to have a set of parties to invite all the people that we want to’, says Peta Swindall, executive director. ‘I think one of the things that is really exciting about this period is bringing some of these alumni that the organisation has worked with over the last 60 years. Some of them are people who've worked with Sam and me more recently, but [some are] people who had their first opportunity on the stage of Little Angel Theatre. There's always been a great attitude of encouraging new talent. And a lot of puppeteers, whether they've gone on to work on the TV or a West End stage, a lot of people have come through our building in some way, shape or form.’

To find out more about Little Angel Theatre, or to see what shows are on, go to their website: www.littleangeltheatre.com