There are currently 25 Resident Artists based at Puppet Place HQ, and you can find out more about them here. This section of our website is where we feature the projects, performances, commissions and festivals that our Residents, and occasionally our Trustees, are currently working on or are taking part in.
Released 3 September 2026: Erotic Secrets of Pompeii’s ‘Body Horrific’ Music Video
The latest music video for Erotic Secrets of Pompeii’s ‘Body Horrific’ single; featuring Puppets, Masks, Automata, Costume and Performance by Puppet Place Resident Artist, Morbid Merriments.
‘Body Horrific’ was recorded at Humm Studios, Bristol, and produced/mixed by Tom Hackwell; assistant engineering by Dom Mitchison. Video shot by Richard Peers and features Morbid Merriments and Esther CS.
Click here to view the video: Erotic Secrets of Pompeii – Body Horrific (Official Video)
18 September – 10 October 2026: Rose Theatre presents Three Men in a Boat
A riotous new comedy by Al Smith
With original songs by Grant Olding
Based on the novel by Jerome K. Jerome
Directed by Christopher Haydon
Puppetry Directed by Chris Pirie
Jerome, George and Harris are lifelong pals. Whenever one is in a spot of bother the others will always jump in to help him out. So what could possibly go wrong as they set out on a carefree boat trip up the Thames – from leafy Kingston to Oxford’s dreaming spires?
Nothing at all. Except torrential rain, alarmingly eccentric dogs and a bout of hallucination brought on by some of the most dangerously rancid cheese ever cultivated. This is a rollicking story of three men, one boat and three dozen angry swans.
Directed by Christopher Haydon (Emma), with original songs by Tony Nominee Grant Olding (One Man, Two Guvnors) and physical comedy created by John Nicholson (Tweedy’s Massive Circus) and puppetry directed by Puppet Place Resident Artist and Trustee, Chris Pirie, this world premiere brings Jerome K. Jerome’s classic novel to hilarious life. A celebration of abiding friendship and calamitous adventure, this is Jeeves and Wooster meets Apocalypse Now.
DATES: Friday 18 September – Saturday 10 October 2026
LOCATION: Rose Theatre, Kingston Upon Thames
PRICE: from £6.50-£66.50
Tickets: https://www.rosetheatre.org/whats-on/three-men-in-a-boat-nw7f
16 October – 7 November 2026: Bristol Old Vic presents Lanny
Based on the original book by Max Porter | Adaptation by Bea Roberts | Director Nancy Medina | Shadow Puppet Consultant Izzy Bristow
Not far from Bristol, there is a village. This village belongs to the people who live in it and to those who lived in it hundreds of years ago. It belongs to England’s mysterious past and its confounding present.
It belongs to families dead for generations, and to those who have only recently moved here, such as the boy Lanny, and his mum and dad.
But it also belongs to Dead Papa Toothwort, who has woken from his slumber in the woods. Dead Papa Toothwort, who is listening to them all.
By the author of Sunday Times Bestseller, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, Max Porter’s spectral novel Lanny rocked the literary world in 2019. Described as “a joyously stirred cauldron of words”(The Guardian) that is “magically beguiling” (Financial Times), it intertwines reality and imagination to thrillingly eerie effect.
Adapted for the stage by award-winning West Country playwright Bea Roberts (And Then Come The Nightjars), and directed by Nancy Medina (The Beautiful Future Is Coming; A Good House; Choir Boy– Best Director, Black British Theatre Awards 2024) and with Puppet Place Resident Artist Izzy Bristow acting as the Shadow Puppet Consultant, this dark and powerful story of folklore, fable and the nature of belonging is the flagship production of BOV’s 260th year.
DATES: Friday 16 October – Wednesday 7 November 2026
LOCATION: Bristol Old Vic
PRICE: from £11
Tickets: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/lanny
To make enquiries or to book one of these talented people contact us directly.