Mischievous family fun heads to Bristol this half-term
15 Oct 2018
Internationally renowned puppetry wizards Little Angel Theatre are set to delight the tiniest audiences in Bristol Old Vic’s new Weston Studio this half-term with Sleepyhead (Tue 30 Oct to Sat 3 Nov), their heart-warming puppetry tale of a naughty little baby and a very sleepy father.
Sleepyhead is written, directed and designed by Michael Fowkes, renowned puppetry director for the RSC (Arabian Nights, 2009) and The Mighty Booshlive tour (2008) and is bound to fuel even the youngest theatre-goer’s imagination through puppetry.
Sleepyhead marks Bristol Old Vic’s first children’s theatre production in The Weston Studio, a home to innovation and the theatre-makers of tomorrow, which is also aimed at engaging, educating and entertaining children from every part of the city.
This “loopy adventure with lots of humour” (★ ★ ★ ★, Time Out) centres on Baby’s endless curiosity, playfulness and fantasy. It’s been a long day for Dad and he can hardly keep his eyes open. All he wants is for Baby to go to sleep so he can catch up on a little shut-eye too. Dad’s usually got some tricks up his sleeve to help send Baby off to the Land of Nod. But tonight, Baby has other ideas…
As soon as Dad’s out of the way, Baby gets his hands on the magic top hat, and when his friend Rabbit shows up the fun and games really begin.
Mix in some magic, a pinch of circus and a large dollop of silliness and you have the recipe for a little adventure with a lot of laughs!
Michael Fowkes has previously worked as a puppet maker for Punchdrunk, Sadler’s Wells, The Unicorn Theatre and The Little Angel Theatre’s The Giraffe, The Pelly And Me, Angelo and Stuff And Nonsense. His television work includes The Mighty Boosh (BBC), Harry Hill’s TV Burp (ITV), and the Comedy Lab’s Penelope, Princess of Pets (Channel 4).
Bristol Old Vic is the longest continuously running theatre in the UK, and celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2016. The historic playhouse aims to inspire audiences with its own original productions, both at home and on tour, whilst nurturing the next generation of artists, whether that be through their 350-strong Young Company, their many outreach and education projects or their trailblazing artist development programme, Bristol Ferment.
They use their funding to support experiment and innovation, to allow access to their programme for people who would not otherwise encounter it, or be able to afford it, and to keep their extraordinary heritage alive and animated.
On 24 Sep 2018, Bristol Old Vic completed its 2-year multi-million pound redevelopment project, which transformed its front of house space into a warm and welcoming public building for all of Bristol to enjoy, created a new studio theatre and opened up its unique theatrical heritage to the public for the first time.