Smethwick Puppetry Festival 2025
Building on the success of the inaugural festival in 2024, Black Country Touring presented the second year of Smethwick Puppetry Festival from 15th to 23th February 2025. This year’s festival offered an expanded and more diverse programme, featuring a greater number of events and increased participation from our local Community Promoters. The festival comprised a total of 38 events spanning 11 community venues across Smethwick, and was attended by 1410 people. Programming the festival over February half-term allowed us to support families by providing accessible and affordable cultural experiences at a time of increased demand for low-cost indoor family-friendly activities.
“Absolute pure magic that you can’t
experience anywhere else.”
“Really great program, with some brilliant family events, good timing over Feb half term.”
Programme
This year’s festival saw us expand our programming, showcasing captivating puppet performances for children, families, and adults, as well as a range of other events including creative workshops, Q&A panels, an automata exhibition, and a short film night themed around stop motion puppetry - the first ever film event presented as part of Smethwick Puppetry Festival.
Performances for Families
Flying With Strings
By Sarah Vigars
An interactive show featuring intricate string puppetry and live music. Learn about the world of birds, including the graceful swallow, the charismatic hoopoe and the colourful bee-eater!
Saturday 15th February 2025, Bear Bookshop
Sunday 16th February 2025, Smethwick Library
Beached
By Strangeface
A unique, table-top show for the whole family. Put on our headphones and enter a magical world. All Arnold wants is some peace, sun and sand, but his walk to the beach soon turns into a monstrous adventure!
Sunday 16th February 2025
West Smethwick Park Pavilion
Nutcracker in Spring
By Lori Hopkins
The well-loved festive tale reimagined for Spring. Clara receives a funny-looking nutcracker for her birthday. Overnight the nutcracker transforms into a Prince and Clara finds herself catapulted into a world of magic, sweets and sunshine!
Wednesday 19th February 2025
Lightwoods House
Suitcase Stories - The Little Toy
By Freda O’Byrne, presented by Tragic Carpet
Two children play on a beach, and when their parents call them away suddenly, Little Toy is left behind. A passing butterfly helps him find his way to the children’s new home across the sea, but first there is a sea monster to deal with…
Saturday 15th February 2025
Smethwick Heritage Centre
The Giant Who Slept For 10000 Years
By Bori Mezo
This story begins 10,000 years ago, in an icy fjord of the northernmost island, where giants still roamed the land… A storytelling puppet show in a suitcase about our relationship to nature, friendship and places we call home.
Monday 17th February 2025
St Hilda’s Church Hall
The Tale of Nobody Nose
By Goofus Theatre
An accessible, fun-filled show combining imaginative wordless storytelling, skilful puppetry and classic clowning to delight audiences. Featuring gorgeous puppets, red noses and snowball fights!
Thursday 20th February, 2025
Brushstrokes Community Project
Suitcase Stories - The Seven Ravens
By Freda O’Byrne, presented by Tragic Carpet
Inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. The audience is taken on a tiny world adventure over an extraordinary, felted landscape as Ada is visited by a Raven and thrust into a dream world of quests, feathers and a Glass Mountain.
Saturday 15th February 2025
Smethwick Heritage Centre
Anansi and the Lost Sun
By Swallow’s Wings Puppetry
A funny, inspiring and entertaining West African tale. One day Darkness covers the face of the Land. Lion appeals for someone to bring back the Light and save the World. Who will succeed? The Eagle? The Monkey? Or Anansi the Spider?
Tuesday 18th February 2025
Smethwick Library
tiny clown’s BIG adventure
By Grandly Strange Puppet Theatre
tiny clown loves teetering on a wire high above a cage of ferocious kiwi fruit, but maybe it's time for a change of scenery? Why not jump into a book, tiny clown? Literally! Warning: this show contains Jabberwock poo!
Saturday 22nd February 2025
The Dorothy Parkes Centre
Performances for Adults
Love Vs Trauma
By Puppet (R)Evolution
Combines colourful shadow theatre, a tender flying hand puppet, and miniature rod puppets in a poetic yet powerful tale for adults and teens. An evocative show investigating the impact of trauma on behaviour and perceptions of choice. Followed by a post-show discussion.
Sunday 16th February 2025, Brasshouse Community Centre
The Stuff of Life
By The Object Project
A breathless exploration of the day to day, angst-ridden experiences of loving, living, lying and dying, told entirely using household objects! Unpacking and dissecting the very fabric of existence, enacted by a miscellany of beleaguered kitchen paraphernalia… mostly.
Friday 21st February 2025, Thimblemill Library
Workshops
Fish Puppet Making Workshops
With Lori Hopkins Company
Get crafty with paper, card and colours - make your own fish puppet with Lori Hopkins before or after watching a performance of ‘Beached’! Drop in during any of the time slots.
Sunday 16th February 2025
West Smethwick Park Pavilion
Toy Puppet Theatre Making Workshop
With Hopeful Monster Theatre
Create a cardboard toy theatre! Choose a story to adapt to a small stage, and use collage, drawing and painting to design and decorate a proscenium, backdrops, props and characters.
Tuesday 18th February 2025
Bearwood Baptist Church Hall
Fancy Fish Puppet Workshop
With Judith Hope
Have lots of fun creating your very own jointed Fancy Fish puppet! Draw, stick, fold and cut. Design and add beautiful decorations, then take your fish for a swishy swim around!
Saturday 22nd February 2025
Smethwick Library
Other Events
Opening Celebration and Puppeteers Panel!
With Sarah Vigars and Marc Parrett
We’ll be joined by Sarah Vigars of ‘Flying With Strings’ and Marc Parrett of The Object Project and Grandly Strange Puppet Theatre to talk about their work and answer questions from the audience, followed by a first look at the automata exhibition installed at Thimblemill Library.
Saturday 15th February 2025, Thimblemill Library
Q&A with our puppeteers
With Hopeful Monster Theatre and Swallow’s Wings Puppetry
Come along for an open Q&A session with Hopeful Monster Theatre and Swallow’s Wings Puppetry. It’s a wonderful opportunity to hear more about their work, pick up some puppetry tips and tricks, and ask all your behind-the-scenes questions!
Monday 17th February 2025, Thimblemill Library
No Place Like Home - Animated Film Night
Curated by Film Hub Midlands
Smethwick Puppetry Festival’s first ever film night! Experience a selection of family-friendly short films themed around stop-motion and puppetry. You’ll find all kinds of creatures, great and small, setting off on funny little adventures in this programme of colourful short stop-animated films.
Wednesday 19th February 2025, Brushstrokes Community Project
A Grandly Strange Exhibition!
By Grandly Strange Puppet Theatre/ The Object Project
Curious tales and mysterious moments are brought to life in this unique automata exhibition, created by Nicole and Marc of Leeds based Grandly Strange Puppet Theatre. There are surprises aplenty! Look out for a wide eyed whale, a greedy guzzler and mouse on a high flying mission!
15th February - 23rd February 2025, Thimblemill Library
Accessible
Our primary aim is to provide accessible and enjoyable performances for local families over half-term. Our access provisions include relaxed performances and accessibility kits including fidget toys, ear defenders and blankets, making the festival more inclusive for individuals with sensory sensitivities or other access needs. We also provide free tickets to carers / personal assistants of audience members who need to be accompanied to performances, and ensure that all participating venues have disabled access and toilets.
Affordable
The entire festival operates on a ‘Pay What You Can’ basis to ensure that cost is not a barrier to individuals and families who want to attend. This meant that audiences were able to choose how much to pay for their tickets, and for those who didn’t feel able to pay, the events were free. This approach is especially important in an area of high deprivation where many are struggling with the cost of living, and was made possible thanks to the support of the West Midlands Combined Authority and the players of The People’s Postcode Lottery, whose funds allowed the festival to happen.
“I really appreciated the pay what you
can scheme - thanks so much.”
“A lovely idea, as not everyone has the
funds to go to these kind of events.”
Local
The festival is a catalyst for community building, bringing people together to experience accessible and enjoyable performances in their local venues. It brings individual promoters together to participate in a larger-scale event, fostering collaboration and a sense of unity among local organisers. There is strong interest amongst promoters and audiences to run the festival annually, indicating its positive impact on the local community and its potential for growth.
“Thank you so much for everything! I had a really great time performing at the festival. You’re creating such a valuable community event with this festival!”
“WELL DONE! I am so glad I was part of your festival. It would be great if it grew. Some children told me they had never seen a puppet show!”
Looking Forward
Looking forward to 2026, we are keen to grow the festival’s programme and increase the capacity overall so that more people in the local area can experience it. We will continue to ensure shows are either ‘pay what you can’ or low-cost, and we hope to involve more venues, community groups and local spaces.
Smethwick Puppetry Festival 2025 was presented by Black Country Touring in partnership with community venues in Smethwick, supported by the West Midlands Combined Authority, the players of The People’s Postcode Lottery and Arts Council England.
