Durham Fringe Festival 2025
The Rubbish Puppets!
92 Beats Productions
Genre: Children's Theatre, Family, Fringe Theatre, Musical Theatre, Puppetry, Storytelling, Theatre
Venue: The Assembly Rooms
Festival: Durham Fringe Festival
Low Down
Films and theatre are becoming more experimental with their take on the complexities of the teenage psyche – with the successful run of ‘Inside Out 1 and 2’ – A film depicting the many emotions that outplay themselves in the tough and sometimes more simple scenarios, within the day-to-day life of a teenager named Riley. ‘Rubbish Puppets’ isn’t so far away from this, with a clever twist of using a ‘Girl’s’ rubbish to playout her different personalities – through beautifully crafted puppets made by formidable duo Courtney Nixon and Molly O’Donnell.
The Cast and Creative Team from 92 Beats Productions are a company to watch – with original scriptwriting, musical score and puppetry – founded in Newcastle as part of the Theatre Royal’s Project. In the cesspool of a teenager’s bedroom, there you will find some witty puppets striving to make a positive change – each puppet serves a purpose and is an extension of how the Girl (played by Jessica Hopper) feels about herself – Rubbish she is not – she has sass and unique idiosyncrasies that metamorphosise into glorious puppets.
Expect some impressive puppets in motion, shimmering recycled materials supported by musical accompaniment.
In a blink… Trash will transform.
Review
Walking into the Assembly Rooms Theatre at Durham Fringe Festival – at a first glance the stage would appear rather messy – a teenager’s slumber chamber. What quickly transforms is the puppets themselves, rising from the empty crisp packet or bin. The puppets are all different – shapes – sizes – textures: some more complex than others, but still as affective in their pace, bounce and stillness. The puppets try their best to motivate a young teenager ‘Girl’ played by Jessica Hopper, who appears hooked on her social media, to leave her bed and engage with them – distinctively they all have their own sense of humour and methods of getting her attention. The magic of the differences here plays out nicely – Dish Mouth – the moving plates/banana skin combo – quick witted and outspoken – Cloth Dog – the pile of clothes that forms an impressive presence of a wise dog beyond it’s years – Bertolt – formed by all the contents of one bin with a niche interest in mid-19th century literature and not forgetting Lamp – the beacon of hope in the teenager’s gloom. The Cast are a talented close-knit ensemble, who work together to encourage a new zest for life that will allow the Girl to gain her confidence back and to perhaps leave her room, which she appears to have occupied for a very long time.
What soon transpires is a world where the girl becomes comfortable, not seeking to leave her pit of plates, clothes and contents of clutter – she demands to be transformed into a puppet herself – but with this comes complications. An exchange of energy comes to light here, as all cast members seek to transform her, this isn’t however such an easy fix, and we feel the Girl’s personal struggles with her motivation, anxiety and fragile relationship with her mother. This mostly is explored through humour and subtle signposting to understand her inner turmoil. For me, I feel the Cast could go further with their themes – what is holding her back? The show is advertised for an older teenage/adult audience, but the songs/dialogue in places felt better suited to a younger demographic. With refinement of the script, there is significant potential here. Since COVID 19 and the rise in mobile phone devices ‘screen time’, we have seen the effects of social engagement– perhaps these themes can be further explored within the songs?
The standout aspects of this show are the puppets themselves and how they are used by the puppeteers to encourage optimum laughter. ‘Cloth Dog’ took months to make and I was astounded to discover that all puppets were made from recycled materials costing no more that £10 – this is a group of creatives who know what they are doing! ‘Lamp’ played by Simoni Dimitiadou is a brilliant example of how the most simplistic item can be brought to life with great presence for something so small – Dimitiadou uses the bended cord of the lamp to demonstrate the puppet’s buoyancy and wit, with great one liners, “I feel nothing from the waist down.” These moments for all the puppets could be further enhanced with refined lighting choices, to capture the individual moments of each puppet further in such an open space.
Tim played by James Weaver, is a welcomed energy – playing the debunked fatigued teenager’s duvet who is bed bound, rising from the dead in moments of song, where the musical aspect of the show worked; he would then collapse straight after – I thought this captured the essence of the ‘avoidant’ teenager and the need for sleep, how many of us can remember being pulled out of bed to get to school or in fact anywhere on time?
The Rubbish Puppets is a joyful ride of teenage nostalgia, with imaginative puppets that transform the space. Will the Girl ever leave her room, or is the prospect of this simply too overwhelming? 92 Beats Productions is a Company to watch, a skillful cast that are going places. Next stop on their tour – Newcastle Fringe Festival – be sure to grab a ticket.
