From the puppeteer: Moominsummer Madness

Hello I’m Claire, and I am in a puppetry show called Moominsummer Madness. The show is based on a rather brilliant book by a rather brilliant lady called Tove Jansson , who wrote lots of books for children and adults.

In our show there are four performers including myself, and we each puppeteer 2 characters. For each character we spent lots of time practicing the movement and what the voice should be like (which really was a lot of fun to do!).

In the show, I puppeteer Emma the Rat and The Snork Maiden. Emma is a mysterious character that the Moomins meet after their home is ruined by a flood. The Moomins find what they think is a floating house, which is where Emma lives. She thinks she is very important and is always busy working  and bossing people about.

My other character is very different to Emma. She is called The Snork Maiden, and despite looking a lot like one, she isn’t a member of the Moomin family (she is a Snork with a little blond fringe and anklet) but is loved by the Moomins as though she were family. She is very curious and loves pretty things and would definitely say that Moomintroll is her best friend in the entire world.

In the show we sing, play instruments, act, and puppeteer, which is a lot of things to remember, so we spent 4 weeks learning & making up the show with our two directors before we opened. (Its important to tell you that during this time we also ate biscuits and cake, and drank lots of tea, which is very,  very important when working hard to make a theatre show).

We are doing the show at Polka Theatre until August 16^th (by then we will have done the show about 70 times!) and it would be reeeeeeally brilliant to see you there. You can book tickets here!

 For your chance to win four tickets for the Moomin Midsummer Madness Show* and all these lovely books- simply tell us ‘What does Moominpappa wear on this head?‘  Tweet tweet @puffinbooks your answer using the hashtag #Moominsummer by Wednesday 30th July for your chance of winning! 

*transport not included, full terms and conditions

Terrible Twos-Day!

This February we’re celebrating Dynamic Double acts. There are plenty to
choose from: Hank and John Green have just finished their phenomenal tour (more
later), Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Marget Stohl is out  in cinemas tomorrow  (hold your breath) and the Dragon Frontier
boys have written us a very special post on fictional pairings (watch this
space).

But never mind the authors, no siree! Terrible Twos-Day is all about the characters and
because its Shrove Tuesday, we thought who better to focus on then our
favourite troublemaking Finnish pancake eaters – The Moomins!

 

Moomintroll and Sniff  

‘Moomin and the New Friend’by Tove Jansson

Moomintroll and Sniff star in
Tove Jansson’s brilliant series ‘The Moomins’. In case you haven’t seen the
Moomims before, they are these white, blobby hippo-like creatures who live in Moominvalley
and like to eat and sleep A LOT. There are also some other creatures on the
island who you get to meet throughout the books, like Sniff.

Sniff looks a bit like a
mouse or a baby kangaroo and lives with his best friend,
Moomintroll.
Tove Jansson loves to follow these two rascals on various adventures and
they are always getting into trouble!

In ‘Moomin and the New
Friend’, Moomintroll and Sniff find a bottle washed up on shore with a
message inside from someone who needs help. The pair bravely decide to
set sail and find the mysterious person but end up getting caught in one whale
of a storm almost immediately. What becomes of these two silly
whippersnappers? Well, you’ll have to read the book if you want to find out.

Lauren Watson, Penguin
Children’s Work Experience

Who’s your favourite troublesome duo? Let us know and send your ideas for
future blog posts to puffinblog@uk.penguingroup.com