Puppeteer Drew Colby has performed his shows in a wide variety of spaces and places – village halls in England, churches in Canada, festivals in Turkey, and various countries in Africa – but when it came time to rehearse his new show, ‘Shadow Tails’, he found the perfect place to rehearse was in his bathroom!
“I moved onto a narrowboat last December”, Colby explains, “and I knew it would bring with it some challenges when it came to building and rehearsing new shows. Obviously, space is limited on a boat, and the electrical system means that theatrical lights often don’t work properly- or at all. I had decided to create a show using hand shadows, but struggled to find a place that was dark enough where I could also have a light strong enough to cast the shadows I was working on”.
Blacking out all the windows on the boat was not an option for Colby – and the lights he had hoped to use simply didn’t work when he tried them out with the boat’s 12 volt electrical installation. However, there was one room on the boat with no windows – the toilet!
“I decided to experiment with using a candle – which produces excellent light for shadows – and found that, with the candle and the dark space in the bathroom, I could easily produce and perfect the shadow characters in my new show.
“The great thing about this show – and all of my shows – is that they are flexible, and can be performed anywhere- but I never thought I would end up rehearsing a new show in the boat’s “smallest room”.
Drew’s puppet company, Objects Dart, is currently touring ‘Shadow Tails’, as well as his other shows, to venues up and down the canal network. He is spending most of August and September in Warwickshire. For more information about Drew’s shows, visit his website – see link in right hand column - ->
