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The Little Angel Theatre

Dateline: 2nd November, 2008

"Money is the string with which a sardonic destiny directs the motions of its puppets"
(William Somerset Maugham)

It was the vision of founder John Wright to create a puppet theatre in the wreck of a bombed-out building which he used his life's savings to buy. His endeavour became the Little Angel Theatre, which for nearly 50 years has been fostering magical experiences for children and adults alike, tucked away behind Islington's bustling Upper Street.

Now England's oldest puppet theatre, and the only one with a special double marionette bridge for operating long string puppets, it has become a respected centre for professional development, research and training for puppeteers and puppet makers: read a selection of puppet-related reviews, articles or programme biographies and the Little Angel comes up again and again.

As well as its own new productions and revivals, tours and acting as a receiving house for the touring productions of others, its professional activities have expanded to also include school outreach projects, clubs and workshops, as well as working closely with the Central School of Speech and Drama to develop new work; it counts amongst its collaborators on external productions august bodies such as the RSC.

It was through this alliance between Little Angel and the RSC that Harriet Walter came to champion the Theatre's Christmas Build a Puppet Campaign. The two companies worked together for the 2007 revival of Venus and Adonis, a masque for puppets developed from William Shakespeare's erotic poem by RSC Chief Associate Director, Gregory Doran and narrated by Walter.

What makes the Campaign necessary is that in last year's much-lambasted funding plans, the Arts Council's axe fell on the Little Angel Theatre and it is currently able to progress individual projects such as its Education Programme, only because of ear-marked funding from a number of foundations and private supporters.

The Build a Puppet Campaign is specifically about raising the money needed to make sure the Christmas show can go ahead. It is going to cost £35,000 to stage an all-new production of The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, adapted by Tim Kane from the well known book by Roald Dahl, with sets to be built and furnished and fifteen or so puppets to be created at a cost of up to £1,000 each.

"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another" (Luciano de Crescenzo)

Whilst the puppet makers have been carving and stringing, the staff at Little Angel have not been resting on their laurels. Far from it. One could say in fact that they have been getting stuck in.

In addition to sponsored walks and runs their fund-raising efforts include Tour Manager, Miranda Pitcher, spending a day sitting in a bath of jelly and spaghetti. Lynette Shanbury the General Manager says, "We all did it because we think Little Angel is worth it".

But there is more to it than just the fundraising for the Christmas show. Little Angel receives no core funding in spite of the breadth and quality of its activities.

Lynette Shanbury adds, "That [£35,000] is in addition to the £200,000 we have to fundraise annually to make sure that the theatre remains a vibrant and exciting place to be."

Artistic Director Peter Glanville, in the face of budgetary cuts, is clear where the blames lies - it is the Olympics that has given overriding priority to circus and street arts.

That small-but-unexampled arts organisations are required to live a project-by-project existence that is further predicated on the occurrence of a sports-based event (even such a big one) is unconscionable. Can it - should it - really be a case of 'instead of' and not 'as well as'?

In this instance, this short-termism also flies in the face of the historical importance and tradition of puppetry in British culture, not to mention the extra-ordinary resurgence that puppetry has been experiencing across many media, not just theatre.

It has been suggested in various quarters that it is acceptable to re-direct money away from the arts generally towards the Olympic event because of the cultural content of the Olympic effort and furthermore the money that will be invested in this country and spent here by visitors will be of wider benefit to one and all. It would be comforting to believe such theories, but even the London2012 website lends them at best little credence.

Little Angel Theatre's determination to go ahead with its Christmas show without funding is as remarkable as ACE's failure to give the Theatre backing despite its special position as "the home of British puppetry".

Little it may be but it punches above its weight.

"The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me" opens on 22nd November and runs until 1st February 2009 with performances Wednesdays to Sundays including a number of Baby Friendly Performances.

Information regarding The Build a Puppet Christmas Campaign 2008 is available from the theatre and online at www.littleangeltheatre.com

Sandra Giorgetti

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©Peter Lathan 2008