A little bit about my background...
You may ask how I got here.. how I came to wear silly clothes to work instead of a business suit.
My first memories were watching Mr Punch on the beach front at Skegness, feeling in turns fascinated and terrified of his slap-stick.
After emigrating in 1975,I started off at fine art college in Cape Town. I majored in painting. I came back to England after spending my teenage years in South Africa and settled in London. I married and soon was pregnant with my first child. I tried to continue being creative but found the constraints of motherhood prevented me from painting. So I switched to sewing.I sewed bodies and faces, soft sculptures, which eventually became puppets.
I had always been a jack of all trades. I was the Lion in the school production of the Wizard of Oz and enjoyed making my costume as much as scaring the young children in the front row of the audience! I had studied classical singing thanks to the benevolance of a local elderly lady and so was capable of holding a note. This all seemed to come together fluidly the first time I performed a puppet show for my first child's 5th birthday party.
I never dreamed I would be doing it for my living 14 years later!
As well as private parties, I also work with my baby fairy Fifi as a workshop leader with the theatre group, Scary Little Girls, delivering antibullying workshops throughout primary schools in the London area. I have seriously considered changing my name to Where'sFifi? as that's what many boys and girls say as soon as they see me.
I have a keen interest in Autism and the magical way puppets seem to bring out something special in these children. Workshops tailor made for Autistic children are in the process of being developed for future delivery. Fifi looks forward to helping me in this fascinating project.
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