The Harlequin Puppet Theatre (founded 1958) is a

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

theatre at

Rhos-on-Sea Rhos-on-Sea ( cy, Llandrillo-yn-Rhos) is a seaside resort and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The population was 7,593 at the 2011 census. It adjoins Colwyn Bay and is named after the Welsh kingdom of Rhos established there in late ...

, Wales. Britain's oldest permanent puppet theatre, the Harlequin was built in 1958 by Eric Bramall and is now run by his former puppeteer partner, Chris Somerville.Salter, Jessica
"Harlequin Theatre: puppet love".
''The Telegraph''. 6 August 2010.Reid, Ian: "Rhos-on-Sea Heritage Trail".
BBC North West Wales website. The small, 100-seat theatre is home to a collection of approximately 1,000

marionette A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or reveale ...

s that feature in puppet shows during Britain's school holiday seasons.Powell, David
"Rhos on Sea puppet theatre could become museum".
''Daily Post''. 17 August 2010.

History

Theatre founder Eric Bramall (born in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

, Merseyside, England) began putting on touring puppet shows in 1946, with the help of his mother. From 1951 to 1956, Bramall performed increasingly elaborate puppet shows each summer in a temporary theatre built onto an existing bandstand in

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

. After Colwyn Bay Council said he could no longer use the bandstand, a fellow puppet enthusiast named Millicent Ford who lived on the seafront at

offered him a portion of her land on which to build a permanent puppet theatre. Architects drew up plans based on Eric Bramall's detailed ideas. The Harlequin was built in eleven weeks, using wood, glass, and local stone salvaged from derelict servants' quarters which had occupied the site. Bramall painted the murals on the auditorium walls in a single week. The Opening Ceremony was performed by Sir Clayton Russon on 7 July 1958. The resulting building won a Civic Trust Award for its design. Its construction marked the first time in British history that a permanent theatre had been specifically designed and built for puppet playing. Since 1958 Bramall's marionette skills had been regularly featured on a children's television show; he and co-puppeteer Chris Somerville were subsequently given a weekly 15-minute puppet programme on

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...

, which continued until 1984. This and other outside work helped enable the Harlequin Puppet Theatre to stay in business, despite declining attendance over the decades. Eric Bramall died in July 1996. his theatre continues to operate under Chris Somerville's stewardship. In an interview for ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', Somerville commented on the increasingly endangered status of

artistry:

References

External links

*
Telegraph article published on 6 Aug 2010
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