Last Tuesday I went to Bath and visited the puppeteer/ puppet maker Marc Parrett. It was really exciting to be able to meet with him in person, having seen his creations come to life in the show 'Rust' at the Bristol festival of puppetry in 2009. I was able to play around with a number of Marc's wonderful puppets, there are a whole bunch of mechanisms I'd like to have a go at now! I also brought a bagful of my own puppets and was able to get some great feedback and advice from Marc. There seem to be a number of parallels in the way we work and Marc tentatively suggested I might get an opportunity to come and help out on some projects at some point, I really hope this is possible as I would certainly learn a huge amount from Marc by working alongside him. He also offered to come and watch the show Bee and I have been working on (The Long and Short of It) and give us some direction, which would be fabulous and is just what it needs at the moment.
All in all it was a wonderful, inspiring day and I am very grateful to Marc for taking the time to show me his work and talk puppets with me!

Here are a couple of examples of Marc Parretts work: