Unit 129, on the Lower Mall, next to Customer Service

£5 including workshop

11am, 1pm, 3pm (30 mins plus workshop)

Age 4+

A rhyming fable from Rust & Stardust, featuring spellbinding songs, delightful dances, colourful costumes, and adorable cat puppets who make potions and fall in love!

Assembly Hall Theatre

Joint parent and child ticket £8

10am and 11.30am (30 mins)

Age 4 months – 18 months

Hullabaloo is an interactive musical storytelling show with puppets where babies and children can take part in stories and explore who they are and decide what interests them about our world.

Trinity Theatre

£15, £10 (schools)

2pm & 8pm (1 hour)

Age 12+ (study guide on request)

This wordless adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a UK premiere by Montréal based company La Fille du Laitier, is inspired by silent film and flirts with melodrama. It humorously transports us into a frantic race for power in a fast-paced, gory version of the doomed couple’s woes that uses bodies, objects and lots of fake blood!

Performers are Marie-Hélène Bélanger and Simon-Pierre Lambert. 

Technical Stage Manager Lisandre Coulombe 

Created by Marie-Hélène Bélanger Dumas and Jon Lachlan Stewart as the creators.

Set Design Cédric Lord  

Sound Design Jon Lachlan Stewart

Camden Centre

£20

4-6pm (2 Hours)

Age 15+

Led by the puppet master Nigel Plaskitt, this workshop will cover all the basic training given to the West End actors, developed over the last seventeen years and through his experience training and casting for Sesame Street International and The Jim Henson Company.

Avenue Q was a huge Broadway and West End success and Nigel trained all the performers in their puppetry technique.

Trinity Theatre

£15

8pm (approx. 90 mins)

Age 12+

Join us for a special edition of the Improbable Sessions especially for Tunbridge Wells Puppetry Festival. In this session the four-piece band will be joined by special guest puppeteers Aya Nakamura and Gilbert Taylor alongside locals Ann Molyneux and Jeremy Kimmel. Part-gig, part-show, gather round as our matchless performers improvise a night of music and puppetry inspired by the setting, the seasons and stories from our guests, directed by Lee Simpson.

Royal Victoria Place Puppetry Pop-Up, Upper Victoria Mall, Five Ways entrance

£8

11am, 1pm, 3pm (45 mins)

Age 4+

One of the most re-imagined characters in children’s literature, Pinocchio comes alive with paper characters in a Victorian-style toy theatre. A new adaptation of this classic tale with more than 25 characters, a crankie box, 15 scenes and special effects.

Trinity Theatre

£10

11am & 2pm (audio described) (45 mins)

Age 4+

Inspired by an event from the life of Franz Kafka, this production follows the adventures of Lottie, a brave and curious doll that gets carried away by a gust of wind and embarks on a journey around the world to find her own path, exploring themes of identity, belonging and freedom. String Theatre present long string marionette productions in a custom-built stage with a bridge.

The Forum

£8

2pm & 4pm (40 mins)

Age 4+

Kidnapped from fresh water to salt water, will Mermarella (Cinderella of the Sea) ever be accepted and find love in this foreign kingdom, where she is not the same as those who envy her? Shadow theatre and Puppetry aimed at thinking families and the young at heart. 

Trinity Theatre

£15

8pm (approx. 60 mins)

Age 10+

Join master puppeteers Nigel Plaskitt and Louise Gold talking about their illustrious careers in puppetry, ending with a Q&A session. Nigel’s five decade career has seen him create much-loved characters in children’s TV hit show Pipkins to making puppetry mainstream with the PG Tips Monkey and Spitting Image. Louise has an impressive background in puppetry, having worked with the legendary Jim Henson on The Muppets and bringing the beloved Annie Sue Pig to life.

(Talk and Q & A) Camden Centre

£10

2.30pm (90 mins)

Age 12+

OSCAR and BAFTA-nominated animator Barry Purves (King Kong, Achilles, Tchaikovsky, No Ordinary Joe) explores the concept of ‘art’ and asks ‘what is a puppet ?’ He looks at the connections between animation and other art forms, leaving you with a fresh perspective on the craft.

(Talk and Q & A) Camden Centre

£10

4pm (1 hour)

Age 10+

Lead puppet maker at Mackinnon and Saunders, (Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Isle of Dogs) Richard Pickersgill shares his insights, showcases models, and discusses the creative processes he and his team used to create the puppets used in the stop-motion film Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.

The parade route starts outside the Royal Victoria Place, parades down Mount Pleasant Rd, and ends in Calverley Grounds.

11am – 12 noon

Calverley Grounds

1pm & 3pm (1 hour)

An aerial comedy about grief, memory and flying luggage racks.

Puppet Parade and Royal Victoria Place

1.30 pm and 2.30pm

Calverley Grounds

12.15pm, 1.15pm, 3.15pm (25 mins)

The Pantiles

1pm-2pm & 2.30 – 3.30pm

Millenium Clock

1.30pm, 2.30pm (20 mins)

The Pantiles

12.30pm 2.15pm 3.30pm

A fusion of object theatre, clowning, movement and mime.

Calverley Grounds

12pm & 2.15pm (45 mins)

Performances are relaxed with integrated Sign Supported English.

Calverley Grounds

12.30pm & 2pm

Specially commissioned piece for this festival

Across Tunbridge Wells Town Centre

5-13 October

Can you spot the muses situated in various locations around the town? This trail, created with support from Arty Farty Retreat will inspire and challenge you.

Puppet Trail prize draw terms and conditions.

Entrants must have spotted all 7 muses in shops around Tunbridge Wells and received a sticker in each store on the trail sheet.

Entrants must opt in to participating in the prize draw by providing contact details when they submit their trail sheet at Trinity Theatre box office

A family ticket is made up of 4 tickets to Sleeping Beauty, 2 adults and 2 children.
Tickets are non-refundable or transferable
Performance selection is subject to availability

Closing deadline for entries is 12 noon on 14 October.
Draw will take place at 2pm on 14 October at Trinity and winners contacted same day by phone/email and announced on social media.