Now Booking
 After a hugely successful launch year in 2010, Hieronymus the hippopotamus is raring to go for his second season of walkabouts. Although something of a Hippochondriac, his 2 scientist side-kicks, Doctor Daphne and Professor Park, are there to tend his every ailment and release his inner puppet shows!
See our Hippo in action
Old favourites Veronica and Yeshe the Yak are also ready and willing to brighten up any festival or parade! They’re joined this year by the three Sun Birds....preening themselves after their magnificent outing at the Manchester Day Parade last summer and Kelda, a giant Viking girl (see below).
Coming Up
We’ve hit the ground running in 2011, with some exciting projects getting under way this month.
Kelda, A Child of the Wirral
 Visiting from the past, Kelda, the giant Viking girl is eager to discover what’s been happening in the Wirral since she used to live there many centuries ago. This giant puppet can be seen at several attractions throughout the spring. Watch out, she may want to join in your activities.....and give up a few secrets of her own! Thingumajig Theatre has been commissioned to create and direct Kelda by Wild in Art and Liverpool Lantern Company as part of Liverpool Discovers.
Ghost Trains and Mill Monsters
 We are excited to be involved in a Creative Partnership project with Year 5 at Harwood Meadows Primary School near Bolton. After performing A November Day for Remembrance Day last year, the project kicked off in earnest with a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester exploring the effects of technology in Victorian times. From this we’ve worked with the students to devise and design a play about time-travelling children who come to the aid of children workers held captive by a Cotton Mill Monster!
On the Road Again
A November Day will also be travelling further afield in February, March and April, as we’re taking it to the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia (15-20 February), Fayetteville, Arkansas (1 March) and the Open Eye Theatre, Minneapolis (4-6 March). We’re wondering how an American audience will cope with Kathy’s Yorkshire accent.....but if we can do it in Italy, we can do it in the US! We’re delighted to be returning to the Center after our fantastic welcome there with The Vertigo of Sheep in 2007. But we’ll keep the show in it’s travelling clothes as after these American adventures, A November Day will be heading off to the Dublin Puppet Festival (8-16 April, specific dates to be confirmed).
Our New Play: Hullaba Lulu
 This spring, Kathy and Andrew, with the help of Mark Whitaker (who directed A November Day) will begin work on our next indoor play. An odd old couple living in a monochrome world on a mechanical land boat where they eat, sleep, and work suddenly remember what it is to dream. This results in Lulu, a mysterious colourful creature who grows and grows and turns the couple’s world inside out teaching them about love, play and how to say goodbye. Funny and sad, featuring physical theatre and exquisite puppetry, filled with live music, and songs with very little spoken language, Hullaba Lulu will bear the full hallmark of Thingumajig Theatre. Available from November 2011.
2011 Handmade Parade and Parade School
 The fourth annual Hebden Bridge Handmade Parade is scheduled for Saturday, 11 June. Parade at 2pm; Finale in the park at 3pm. Open workshops start 24 May. New this year, we will have a 5-day intensive Parade School from 18-22 May to teach advanced parade making skills such as giant puppet construction, stilting and withy structures.
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