Tale-Telling Adventures: An Interview with Sofia and Niamh
Last week, Suffolk Libraries was buzzing with creativity, hosting fun sessions where children of all ages (and a few adults too) have been making carrot puppets and helping to invent new tales for Funnelwick Limbs new show Twelve Yuletime Yarns which tours Suffolk Libraries in December and goes back into rehearsal this week
We sat down with Sofia Bagge and Niamh Handley Vaughan from Funnelwick Limb—to find out more about these vegetable adventures and the joys of collective storytelling.
Carrot puppet, making….thats a little different? Can you start by telling us a little bit about the project and why you chose a runaway carrot as your protagonist?
Niamh: This project is all about gathering ideas for our new show, 'Twelve Yuletime Yarns'.
During the shows R and D the team hit on the idea of a carrot escaping a school kitchen and going on an adventure. An ordinary carrot, everyone knows what one looks like, but an escaping carrot that’s extraordinary. It immediately sparks the question: "Where will it go?"
And since then we’ve been asking young people what might that carrot do? What adventures might that carrot go on as it escapes
And here …in Suffolk Libraries…we’ve taken that one step further and asked our participants to make carrot characters, using carrots, posca pens, pipe cleaners and google eyes! And we’ve been blown away by what the children have made!
Sofia: All we really do is give the children the materials, and off they go!
In a way this is a development of a project we did in six primary schools in Tendring (called Shapeshifters) where the children made characters out of sticks or lego and then wrote stories using those characters which were then turned into audio stories.
(the Shapeshifters project reaches its conclusion with presentation of the childrens stories at Harwich Electric Picture Palace - photo Funnelwick Limb)
It sounds like a fantastic way to encourage imagination. What's the process been like in the library sessions?
Niamh: It’s a lovely, relaxed drop-in session atmosphere. The children can start where they want.. .taking one of our Atom and Luna stories for a walk, trying out our Yule Tide work sheet but most children dive straight into making a carrot character.
We've seen everything from a wonderful emo carrot to harry potter styled wizard characters to fairy carrots! Once the characters are ready, we encourage the children to think about their character's adventure. Who does your carrot meet? What's the biggest challenge?
(Funnelwick Limb team working in the library - photo Funnelwick Limb)
Are you finding that working in the library environment adds something special to the process?
Niamh: Absolutely. Libraries are natural hubs for imagination and stories. They’re also wonderfully open and accessible community spaces. Bringing a playful, hands-on activity like this to a library makes it easy for families to participate without needing to book or travel far. It connects that joy of reading with make-believe, creativity and imagination in a tactile experience. Above all though its just lots of fun
Sofia: And we’ve worked with all ages. We say 6+ but we’ve had the chance to work with children as young as 3 and adult children in their - well it would be rude to say wouldnt it!
We’ve seen older siblings getting involved, helping the younger ones, and teenagers too!
Some of the carrot creations have been made in minutes, some up to an hour!
(one of the stories and puppets created in the sessions - photo Funnelwick Limb)
Niamh. It feels like a real shared creative experience for the whole family, surrounded by thousands of books that are, in themselves, a source of endless inspiration.
Interviewer: What has been the most surprising or heartwarming moment from the week so far?
Niamh: I’ve loved seeing and meeting all the different communities that use the libraries - seeing children and adults really use it as their space, somewhere to hang out. It’s really nice to see!
Sofia: Ive also loved seeing the pre-teens get involved and get really creative with the carrot puppets. They often joked they were too old but they really wanted to get involved and the results were SO creatiive Thank you both so much for sharing your experiences. And obviously we cant wait to see 'Twelve Yuletime Yarns when it returns to Suffolk Libraries in December
Niamh & Sofia: Thank you!
Tickets for Twelve Yuletide Yarns are free and are available from Twelve Yuletide Yarns - Eastern Angles Theatre Company . The show is being performed in Harwich Arts and Heritage Centre (15th Nov), Jaywick Sunspot (16th Nov), Beccles Library (6th December), Lowestoft Library (7th December), Bury St Edmunds Community Library (12th Dec), Gainsborough Library (13th December) and Ipswich County Library (14th December)
The project is generously supported by Arts Council England with funds from the National Lottery and is produced by Funnelwick Limb in association with Eastern Angles and Theatre Porto.
