The past few weeks we have been very lucky to have had Long Nose Puppets rehearsing their new show “Arthur’s Dream Boat” here at Café des Artistes. It has been truly delightful hearing the enchanting sounds emanating from the cyclorama and snatching previews of the magical visuals, puppetry and showmanship of this inspired team of writers performers and artists.
We have been witness to the makings of Arthur’s Dream Boat from the early days. At first we would catch glimpses of children’s author Polly Dunbar and artist Katherine Morton through the window of their studio at CdA beginning to fashion 3d versions of the colourful characters from Polly’s new book of the same name, adorning them with bright pigments and glitter. Then rehearsals began and Katherine and Polly asked Christian to take a few photos for promotional material. At the shoot, we saw how the hard-work and skill of this stellar cast of performers and writers with musical direction from Tom Gray of Gomez came together to bring the book and the characters to life.
Polly and Katherine set up Long Nose Puppets together after studying illustration at Brighton University and have toured the country with their vibrant and playful puppet shows loved by children and adults alike. Their first show was adapted from the book SHOE BABY written by Polly’s mum the famous author Joyce Dunbar and illustrated by Polly. The music is also written by musican Tom Gray of Gomez. Shoe Baby has had sell out shows up and down the country and was a great success at the Edinburgh Festival. It also won the award for the best children’s show at the Brighton Festival in 2006 and was the main children’s christmas show at the Komedia in Brighton. Long Nose were invited to perform the sell out production at Downing Street for Gordon Brown’s Christmas party in the same year.
Their second show Flyaway Katie, based on the book by Polly, launched at the Komedia in December 2007 and has toured the UK. The third show Penguin had a sell out run in 2010 also at the Komedia.
As well as touring theatres and festivals, Long Nose puppets are available for school visits and puppet making workshops.
We can’t wait to see Arthur’s Dream Boat in its entirety which will begin its tour at the Komedia in Brighton. Click on the link to find out more about dates and times. We hope that Long Nose will bring the show to CdA in the New Year and maybe we can convince them to run a children’s puppet making workshop too!
Café des Artistes 
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