Morning:
8°c
For most it is an entertainment that evokes visions of Kermit the Frog and childhood days at the seaside - but now the puppet show has grown up.
A festival coming to London - backed by actor Clive Owen - is showcasing puppetry as an artform for adults, capable of tackling dark and dramatic themes.
The 10-day Suspense festival, which starts on 30 October at seven venues in Islington, is the first event of its kind here for 25 years.
Owen launched the festival at the Little Angel Theatre alongside RSC associate director Gregory Doran.
The actor, star of movies Sin City and Closer, said: "I don't think there is much difference in puppetry for adults. The shows I have seen are so intelligent and well-crafted that it doesn't matter what age you are."
Peter Glanville, festival organiser and artistic director of the Little Angel, told how he has seen a major growth in the popularity of adult puppetry since he started hosting shows three years ago.
The performances, which regularly sell out, feature acts ranging from satirical shadow puppets to a miniature circus of dummies made from straws.
He said: "The number of [puppet] companies has grown in the last few years, so I decided it was time to showcase the range of talent we've got in this country. We can finally use the word 'puppet' and still be taken seriously."
Puppets regularly appear in West End shows including the New London Theatre's War Horse and musical Avenue Q at the Gielgud.
Other shows deal with darker subjects. My Baby Just Cares For Me, by the Full Beam Visual Theatre, is an uncompromising look at a woman's struggle to care for her partner with Alzheimer's. And Feral, showing at the New Wimbledon Studio, is about a boy with Asperger's syndrome who longs to lose himself in the world of a cat.
Chris Pirie, creative director of puppetry company Green Ginger, whose production Rust is in the festival, said: "There has always been a market for darker, adult shows in Europe. It is the ultimate stage effect, you can do violent and horrible things to puppets and they turn up to work the next show."
