Nottingham Puppet Festival 2026: The Festival Where I Learnt New Things & Watched A Journey of Strength And Bravery!
Hello world! Welcome back to another blog. Today I’m going to be talking about an event in Nottingham that celebrated a art form I’ve loved since I was younger. And that is Nottingham Puppet Festival!
What Is Nottingham Puppet Festival:
Nottingham Puppet Festival is an event where the aim is “Bringing the city to life with puppets and people”. From workshops, to talks and shows, there’s something for the whole family, with events that took place all over Nottingham from 27th June-5th July 2026 as seen at the end of this section! After watching some shows linking to the last one back in 2024 (where you can see here: https://www.theautisticactress.com/post/nottingham-puppet-festival-stepping-into-a-fantasy-hope-courage-and-feeling-the-nostalgia) I knew I had to get involved somehow. As an autistic person, puppets have been said to help those on the spectrum like myself to navigate the world, so this was an even more magical experience.
The Stuff I got involved in:
Now I didn’t get to do much, so I said to myself that I would get involved in at least 2 things. I know it wasn’t much, but anything was better than nothing. Here are the two things I got up to!
Puppetry Workshop:
On 28th June I took part in a puppetry workshop, hosted by two lovely people called Stephen and Amber from Animte Puppet Company. This was a very interesting session, as I got to learn the basics of puppetry, the three A’s and got set some activities with them. They also mentioned their background and where they trained to get to where they are today, and it’s given me a real eye opener on getting some more skills to add to my CV. They also said that you’re never too old for puppetry, and it’s also given me some reassurance about the place they trained at.
At Sea:
A show I watched as part of the festival was “At Sea”, a nine verbal show about a sailor who goes on a big adventure to find his heart compass. This was performed by a company called “Life and Limb”, and after watching their show “Dragon” at the last one, I knew I had to see it. If you’ve ever seen shows like “Pingu”, you’ll know that it’s non verbal, but the gestures help tell the story. Unlike the last show, they also brought some of the puppets outside of the booth, which really gave it that immersive feeling to it. But my only downside was that there was one child who threw something near the booth, and also there were a couple of little ones who got abit restless. But I admired the company for carrying on, as despite not seeing it, they can hear it.
I think my only downside was that I didn’t get a chance to do more of what they had. These included stuff at Broadway cinema and also not getting a chance to watch “The Enormous Crocodile”. But equally I knew I couldn’t do everything, so as long as I got involved in a couple episodes of bits, then I’ll be happy.
And that is it for my blog on Nottingham Puppet Festival 2026! Let me know if you got involved in anything and also if you saw any puppet shows! You can also check out the link below to keep up to date with the next festival!
See you soon for another blog. Until next time…
This is The Autistic Actress signing off :)
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