Performance

On Saturday 3rd June Confluence partners Transition Haverfordwest hosted a performance of ‘The Lightning Path’ at the Picton Centre and offered the audience a rare chance to see some live theatre in the town centre.

Written and performed by Small World Theatre ‘The Lightning Path’ combines skilled puppetry with beautiful animation and original music. The show is cleverly written for English and Welsh speakers and was enjoyed by an audience of 58 adults and children from all age groups.

The story centres around Ella who wonders why her family farm is flooding. Her Grandfather worries about the wildlife and why the eels are not coming up the river anymore. Ella embarks on a magical journey through changing landscapes with her new friend, Harri-the-flying-hare. This is a global journey for Ella, who meets curious creatures in far away lands that help her and the audience learn new ways of understanding and caring for the environment.

Some pleasing feedback was captured on the blackboard target pictured below.

Workshops

Ahead of the performance, Ann Shrosbree and Toby Downing from Small World Theatre were invited on Sunday 28th May to host a day of Puppetry workshops, as part of the Ideas LAB.

The workshops attracted a total of 15 participants who enjoyed a demonstration of the principles of shadow puppetry, and then went on to make their own characters and scenery. This was all brought together to create two performances at the end of the session, one based on how they saw Haverfordwest now, and another to describe how they imagined the town in 5 years time. View clips from the performances below.

All participants shared their drawings showing their ideas of ways to improve places in the town, and then became engrossed in cutting, sticking and pinning their contributions to the final puppet shows. Ann Shrosbree provided some clever ad-hoc narration to tie the story of each performance together. Everyone was able to take their creations home, hopefully inspiring them to make their own shadow puppet shows.