Getting Busy

http://dalstongarden.org/?p=3925

Rosy Gets The Plot

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In 2012 I did all this stuff....

After a nice few months off work, enjoying some  maternity leave  time spent pushing a pram around the many parks of Hackney, general sleeplessness and getting to grips with my new job as a mum, I returned to work with the lovely Hidden Cities and Blomsbury Festival crew once again, managing finances, helping with the establishment of Bloomsbury Festival as a registered charity and supporting the festival team in all their exciting endeavours.


Blooms Fest
Rosy R&D
Museum of childhood w'shops
Islington Museum workshops
Dalston Garden Festival of Lights

Oh the things I did in 2011!

2011 was a busy year for me - amongst other things, I wrote a successful Arts Council funding application for Bureau Of Silly ideas (who received National Portfolio status as a result), I delievered countless puppetry projects for Little Angel Theatre, delivered workshops for all sorts of clients, from The RSC to a wonderfully creative primary school in rural suffolk, and made my TV debut for Nick Jnr.

Finally, as if to force me to put a stop to all that work, I had my baby daughter at the start of October  -  a few weeks early.

Apart from the birth of my daughter - which obviously takes some beating as far as highlights go - I would pinpoint my TV debut as a particular highlight!

Having not auditioned for anything like this for many, many years, I was delighted to get a call from Director David Wachs to say I had been chosen, alongside Oliver Smart of Folded Feather, to be one of the puppeteers in a series of 2 minute films set in the workshop and auditorium at The Little Angel Theatre.

The films were a collaboration between Nick Jnr and The Little Angel, who celebrated their 50th anniversary that year, and each film gave 2 children a gentle introduction to playing with puppets, character development and story building before they performed a simple show for family and friends in the theatre.

Oli and I each made 3 films, with a different pair of children joining us in each episode, and by the final film, I had quite a baby bump - quite wierd to think my daughter Essie has already made her TV debut in bump form - i'm sure she'll enjoy seeing that when she's old enough to understand!

Here's a little shot of me in action;

Me and my two budding puppeteers devising their hilarious story, 'King Pig'

And... as if that was not enough excitement for one year, 6 weeks after my daughter arrived, I was back in front of the camera (albeit a little bit sleep deprived!) to make a special Christmas episode of 'We're Puppeteers'. It was quite a surreal experience, but a nice way to return to work and I do enjoy it now when I meet kids who have seen the shows, which still seem to be on pretty regularly - so, look out for me and my dodgy accents if you're a Nick Jnr viewer!