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We have been awarded a grant from The Sylvia Adams Charitable Trust towards our new project ‘Hands Up – Sign Up’. Kinny is delighted, and the entire team are increasingly excited about both the stories that are part of it:  ‘1,2,3 Little Pigs’ and ‘A {midsummer night’s} DREAM’.

Here is the link to our BSL signed and subtitled publicity clip for ‘Edmund the Learned Pig’ , our co production with Fittings Multimedia Arts and The Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester. It’s running there for a few weeks – October 9th – 25th 2013.Huge thanks to Caroline Parker and Kinny for their signing, and amazing film director Inigo Braithwaite for his excellent filming. It’s on VIMEO, so you’ll have to copy and paste this link to get there : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sq15w0rpowlxew5/pzSDlbZ3Ae/Edit%2001%20with%20Subtitles%20%28H.264%29.mp4

Edmund the Learned Pig, our remarkable co-production with Fittings Multimedia and The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, is toddling on beautifully. Kinny spent a blissful day in the music studio working with Musical Director Sally Clay and co-artistic producer Garry Robson on the wonderful songs by Martyn Jaques of The Tiger Lillies. Here’s a link to the show, which is running in Manchester in October of this year. http://www.royalexchange.co.uk/event.aspx?id=723

As you can see from the newly re-vamped SHOWS page, we are in the middle of booking up our Winter tour. A curly-tail of much silliness, with Sign Language performers Kinny Gardner and Jim Fish being directed (or corralled) by Caroline Parker. We’ll be re-visiting some old friends, and happily making new ones, so do check the listings and get along to see us. And if you want to book it, ring now! And very soon we’ll be releasing further information on ‘A {midsummer nights} DREAM, our greatly anticipated Shakespeare, already booking up for Spring 2014… mmm magic and mayhem awaits.

We are so pleased to announce that we are in receipt of a grant from Arts Council England towards the cost of our next big project. ‘Hands Up -Sign Up’ will allow us to appoint a new Associate Deaf Artist, and create two new touring theatrical productions. The first of which, ‘1,2,3 Little Pigs’ begins it’s UK travels on Nov 17th of this year…Well done Kinny for some tenacious fundraising!

We had a great time at Hacton Primary School in Hornchurch. Here is a link to their amazing web page, all about our visit with The Waving Cat, and featuring great paparazzi – style photos. Once you are there, click on the photo image to see it bigger.

http://hactonprimary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-waving-cat-of-japan.html

We are so excited to tell you that we have raised further funds from ‘Foundation Scotland’ and from ‘The Moffat Foundation’. This means we are now fully funded for our ten day trip to Bonnie Scotland in June. Hoots indeed…

Well, all the scenery, all the puppets and all the technical equipment is in the rehearsal studio. Chris de Wilde the Designer is painting scenery blocks black and Pip Thurlow the Technical Manager is wiring up music systems and computers, all in preparation for Monday mornings early start for rehearsals of ‘The Waving Cat of Japan’. We rehearse for three weeks, then open at the Capitol in Horsham on Friday 26th April. Hope to see you all on the road, somewhere, check the schedule on ‘The Shows’ page….

Sounds like a joke, but no, ’tis true! Kinny was interviewed for the Deaf  news and views website ‘Limping Chicken’. Have a look!

We are so pleased and delighted to announce that we have received funding from Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland, one of the leading grant-giving trusts in the country, to tour up to Kinny’s native land with The Waving Cat of Japan. From June 6th until 15th we will be traversing the high roads and low roads, across the length and breadth of that bonnie country, with three bemused actors and ‘Maneki Neko’. So if you see us passing, geeza heeugh! (Cue pipes and Kinny’s kilt…)