about Chicken Of The Woods Theatre
Artistic Statement
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We make theatre that transports you on a journey from the ordinary into an imaginative world we've crafted. By combining puppetry, music, text and multimedia visual arts, we create stories with a wide appeal that are full of surprises, to be enjoyed by young and old. We believe in sharing our skills with others so we can introduce people to the magic of animating puppets who might not otherwise have the pleasure.
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artist bios
FREDERICA HAYES
Frederica is an artist and puppeteer studying at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Born and bred in York she has been involved with local theatre and charity events. In 2014 she graduated at Leeds college of Art where she studied Fine Art. She has recently worked alongside the renowned Peter Schumann at the Bread and Puppet theatre in the Northeast kingdom of Vermont, performing with weird and wonderful puppets in parades and circus shows. Frederica is a talented maker and performer with a keen interest in macabre style puppetry who works hard to accomplish wonderful and inspiring theatrical productions.
JEMIMA HAND
Jemima is an artist who is currently training as a puppet maker and puppeteer at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She worked with the acclaimed puppeteer Peter Schuman during a five week apprenticeship with the Bread and Puppet Theatre Company in Vermont. As a designer, she has worked alongside Tori Murphy, who runs a luxury textile and homewares brand. In 2015 she built an installation for the Sue Ryder charity in Victoria Station, London. As an actor, Jemima played the role of Sophia in Sheep in Fog in 2016. Jemima works hard to fulfil her visions as a puppet maker and performer and designer, bringing extraordinary theatre to the stage.
JOANNA MAY
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Joanna is currently training as a puppet maker and puppeteer at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She is originally from Brighton where she trained in Acting and Contemporary Devised Theatre Making. In addition Joanna recently trained with the National Youth Theatre on their Epic Stages course.
She has performed in Brighton Festival and Fringe where she also directed a devised family performance of ‘The Little Prince’ in 2014. Since then she has been pursuing puppetry and puppet making for theatre, most recently performing a piece at an evening event for the V&A Museum. Joanna is very committed with lots of performing experience, Joanna works hard to make stimulating and magical theatre.
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SEBASTIAN MAYER
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Seb is a London based visual artist and puppeteer. Seb is originally from Oxfordshire, where he trained with Acorn Music Theatre Company, writing and co-directing their performance of “The Snow Queen” in 2015. He founded the toy company Partly Animal in 2013, designing and producing a range of geometric animal mask kits (www.partlyanimal.co.uk).Since then he has shifted his focus to giant puppetry, performing giant walkabout acts at museums and festivals all over Europe including the V&A Museum, Shambala, Secret Garden Party (UK), Solar Weekend (Netherlands) and Mandrea Festival (Italy). In 2014 his video “For all the lonely giraffes out there” achieved half a million views on youtube. In 2015 he wrote, directed and performed in a music video for Nubiyan Twist’s single “Headhunter” featuring his giant puppets. Seb is currently training in the design and performance of Puppetry at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.