Theatre Collection, spooky special

For Halloween, we took a trip to our Theatre Collection to look at some interesting items from their archives! Head over to our Instagram (@bristol_uni_lib) to see some video footage of these curious creatures. Did you know that the Theatre Collection also have an Instagram account? Follow them at @uobtheatrecollection

A ventriloquist dummy sitting on a table — This is Fred Russell’s ventriloquist dummy Coster Joe which was used in his act. Fred Russell (real name Thomas Frederick Parnell, 1862-1957) is said to have been the 'Father of Modern Ventriloquism' as he was the first act to utilise a single puppet sat on the knee as opposed to operating a large group of puppets on stage. Coster Joe is dated to have been created around the early 1900s. Image credit: Reference number: MM/11/11

A number of fake noses on a cushion — Fake noses used in the 2019 production of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Bristol Old Vic. Image credit: Reference number: BOV/A/10/1

A large puppet sits on a table. He has big eyes and an open mouth and tiny figures of people are on his sides — Invisible Bonfires was commissioned by DEFRA as part of their attempt to make the general public more aware of climate change. Mammon is the God of Money, with his followers standing on his head and body. In the play, one of the points of conflict is that people are too busy worshipping Mammon to pay attention to the environment. Mammon is a sort of puppet. He sits on a table that has a hole underneath. A performer (either Tim, Chris, or Ed Jobling) would climb under the table and up inside Mammon to operate his mouth. The actor also operated a button to light up Mammon’s shoes. Image credit: Made by: Penny Saunders Year: 2008 Production: Invisible Bonfires

A white rabbit head costume — The Barbers of Surreal was a satire about genetic engineering. The play also included a lot of references to Alice in Wonderland, with the rabbit acting both as the White Rabbit and as an example of the extremes of genetic engineering. The rabbit is about 7 foot high and designed for a human to fit inside. Penny had a lot of trouble making the rabbit’s knees look realistic, since rabbit’s knees are in a different place to human knees. The solution was to make the rabbit larger than human size to make sure the knees were in the right place. Chris and Tim Britton (the two main performers at Forkbeard Fantasy) would take turns wearing it. A friend of Penny’s worked in a lab which carried out tests on animals. After the animals had completed their round of testing, the lab staff were allowed to take them home as pets. Penny’s friend had adopted an enormous rabbit, which was the inspiration for this character. Image credit: Made by: Penny Saunders Year: 1996 Production: The Barbers of Surreal

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