Norwich Puppet Theatre are thrilled to present a special series of online puppetry performances of Roald Dahl’s Dirty Beasts and Revolting Rhymes poems. These mini shows will be broadcast for free on Norwich Puppet Theatre’s YouTube channel, with a new performance being released each week from 21 August until October Half Term. The performances will then remain online until early December. Dirty Beasts is a collection of hilarious animal rhymes about a host of (mainly) grisly beasts, all of whom are none too keen on human beings. Revolting Rhymes is a series of twisted fairy tales told in verse and with plenty of humour. Each of the poems in these two Roald Dahl collections are being performed by a different artist or company working in lockdown. Audiences can look forward to a range of puppetry styles, from shadow theatre, to animation, and from pop-up theatres to rod marionettes. All the artists involved have a close connection with Norwich Puppet Theatre, including past apprentices and directors, plus regular visiting companies and collaborators. The Theatre is also working with musicians Ali Houiellebecq and Jonathan Lambert who have created some original music for the special credits sequences for each set of poems. Norwich Puppet Theatre has been presenting creative activity videos for children since the beginning of lockdown, but this project marks the first time the Theatre has presented puppetry performances for online audiences. Norwich Puppet Theatre’s General Manager, Ian Woods, said: “In these challenging times for artists and theatres it is great to be creating something new in our 40th anniversary year, and we are delighted that this is based on work by our one time patron Roald Dahl.” The poems are being presented with permission from the Roald Dahl Story Company, and with the support of Arts Council England and The Martin Laing Foundation. Norwich Puppet Theatre’s website and social media channels will share further announcements about dates and times of the premieres.
