|
The BBC Television Puppet Theatre was housed
initially in a 'tin shed' between the main studios and
the canteen at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios,
Shepherd's Bush; later moving to a purpose-built studio
at BBC Television Centre. In the picture
above, camera angles are being worked out for a
production of "The Emperor's New Clothes."
A Scene
from "The Petrified Princess"
Under the stewardship of Gordon Murray, over 50
plays were written or adapted for marionettes and
transmitted live between 1955 and 1964; the most popular
of these productions being "Rubovian Legends."
Other members of the Puppet Theatre Company included
Andrew & Margaret Brownfoot, Bob Bura & John
Hardwick and Molly Gibson & Audrey Atterbury.
A Scene
from "The Winkleburg Armourer"
Soon
after moving to Television Centre in 1961, the BBC
merged its Children's Programmes and Women's Programmes.
This signalled the start of a gradual scaling down of
puppet productions, which finally ended in 1964 with the
Puppet Company being disbanded and the purpose-built
Puppet Theatre Studio falling into disuse. It
would be another two years before Gordon Murray produced
his next puppet production - Camberwick Green -
but now using stop-motion animation instead of
marionettes. |
