DIOGEL?/SAFE?

MOVING !

MANIFIESTO DE LA SELVA

Small World Theatre used to be Called Dandelion Puppets.

Just to put the record straight. We were the first and original company called Dandelion Puppets. In 1978 Satish Kumar editor of Resurgence Magazine went to a meeting at The National Centre for Alternative Technology (NCAT). They were looking for something to engage the younger visitors to the centre and Satish suggested That Ann Shrosbree would create a puppet show. By April 1979 Ann had written the story, made the puppets and recruited Bill Hamblett. The first performance was at Dolwilym Mansion, Carmarthenshire and a season at NCAT followed.

Our first show was called Dora's Dilemma and was about a dandelion being buried under a road. She eventually broke through the surface with the help of others in her micro environment. This could have been one of the first ecological puppet shows. Unles you count Garcia De La Vega's puppet show to the Incas in 1540 something about new agricultural methods. Maybe that would have been the first development theatre piece? but I digress.

Who's Crazy was the next show . The history of the World from microbes in the sea to high rise flats in 8 scenes. Dinosaurs,volcanoes with real fire and 2 alien observers checking out the energy use

The Giant of Cwm Cysglyd followed in 1981and was about a quiet valley being taken over by a transnational giant corporation.

Our next show was a trial run in Sudan and we traveled in a convoy of six Landrovers from Green Deserts' base in Suffolk to Ed Damer, Shendi and Khartoum in Northern Sudan with a small puppet show.

On our return we made a show about reforestation called Abbas' Journey.

Since then a company in Ireland called themselves Dandelion Puppets, a person in Brighton called themselves Dandelion Puppets and people we met at festivals said they were an ecological puppet company "doing the Dandelion Puppets thing" When a company calling itself Dandelion Puppets was booked at Glastonbury Festival in our usual spot and then failed to turn up we had had enough of this flattering but confusing situation. We were on tour with a show called " In the Shadow of the City" a programme for schools reserched in Kenya. After the show some year 7 pupils asked us why we were called Dandelion Puppets They said " we thought that it would a weedy show with stupid glove puppets but it was great " Later that day we decided, while sitting next to Ramsgate Harbour, to call ourselves

Small World Theatre

Images from other past shows and projects , more images to come

Why not plant 1 million trees in the desert ?