Puppets take over Croydon for Croydon Remix
If you’re heading to Croydon on Saturday to visit Pollock’s Toy Museum and watch one of the toy theatre performances of Jack the Giant Killer and Harlequinade, you can also meet some huge musical superstars making a puppet appearance later in the day at Croydon Clocktower and the high street Carnival.
Created to perform in the Carnival of Croydon, part of Croydon Remix the closing weekend of Croydon’s London Borough of Culture year. The nine puppets all represent famous musicians who hail from Croydon and will be part of a performance featuring many of Croydon’s most talented dancers.
The structures are created using a bamboo frame, and the body shape of the characters is developed using withie (willow) sticks, and centre cane for face details. The whole structure is covered in a double skin of tissue paper and latex. The clothing is a mixture of fabric and paint with details made from a variety of mixed media. The features have sprayed on skin tones with hand-painted faces and hand details and are built on a reusable backpack with an aluminium frame.
The musical artists include rapper Nadia Rose (pictured), Captain Sensible, and Stormzy. They have a joyous and slightly rebellious quality when in motion.
The puppets were created by three talented artists working with participatory arts company Strange Cargo:
- Sam Giles artist and co-founder of Loser Gang
- Bid Tophill, long time contributor to Charivari
- Emily Tull artist whose work can be found here
The puppets and performers are starring in the first night of the carnival on Friday 22 March at 6:15pm at Croydon Clocktower and the High Street.
On Saturday 23 March the puppets and performers will be at the Children’s Library Croydon Clocktower at 4pm and dancing in the second night of the carnival which begins at the Clocktower at 8:30pm.
Read more about Carnival of Croydon