Puppet shows based on the story of Saint Alban, the first saint of Britain and St Albans cathedral’s Victorian renovations have been performed by a team of local volunteers and 60 local primary schoolchildren.
The project, led by arts charity Young People’s Puppet Theatre, was hosted by St Albans Cathedral and comes a week before the city prepares for its annual St Alban Day festival and pilgrimage.
The Crossing Place, told the story of Alban, and A Grim Day Out, about two children who fall back in time to explore the Victorian-era renovations of the Cathedral and were written by Rebekah King and took place at the cathedral.
A team of local volunteers started making the puppets in February in weekly workshops at the Cathedral, using clay, wood and fabric.
The children visited to learn more about the puppet making process and the Cathedral and helped the volunteers string the puppets before rehearsals at school ahead of their public performances.
The productions mark six years’ of collaboration between the Young People’s Puppet Theatre and Mandeville Primary School and headteacher, Cathy Longhurst said:
“We love working with the Young People’s Puppet Theatre.
‘The project achieves things that we cannot possibly hope to replicate in the classroom, in terms of real purposeful collaboration, really stepping outside their comfort zones, raising their self-esteem and working in a very professional way.
‘It made such a difference to all the children and was exactly what our children needed.”
The Young People’s Puppet Theatre is a local arts education charity run by father-and-daughter team Jeremy and Caitlin Duschenes which works with primary schools across the east of England.
They work with around 700 children aged nine-11 each year, who create puppets and take part in spectacular shows. The children gain a huge range of creative, technical and performance skills in the processalongside teamwork, communication, and organisational skills, and gain huge resilience and confidence.
The annual St Alban Day pilgrimage and Festival takes place on 20 June
Find out more here.
