Hi! My name is Keith Frederick and I am the ideas person behind The Yellow Box Storytellers. 8 years ago myself, Emma Reade-Davies, and Catherine Thomas were all fledgling artists who started their careers in puppetry working for the Little Angel Theatre , based in Islington, London, as volunteers. Our varied talents were soon recognised and it wasn’t long before we were being paid to make, assist and perform in various shows produced by the Little Angel Theatre.
Having this unique opportunity to be part of the Little Angel team, and see at first hand how puppets shows were created, I soon became keen to create and perform my own show. I had a puppet theatre already which I had built to use for another project and I had a 15 minute show, both at home doing nothing. Emma knew about this because we performed it on the backstage tour at the Little Angels Summer party in 2010. Emma suggested that it could be refined and made into a more complete entertainment, making the show bigger and more polished. I was also keen to make marionettes the focus of the show. My belief being that using 12″ marionettes would make for a more intimate theatrical experience for younger children and a great introduction to this aspect of puppetry which, in my opinion, has for too long been sidelined in favour of easier to operate types of puppet. We set to work and ‘The Yellow Box Storytellers’ came into being on the 4th of July 2011. Catherine came on board as a puppeteer a little later on in 2013
As the creator of the Yellow Box Storytellers I want to make shows that give a nostalgic nod to the puppet shows of yesteryear, being a slight step out of time. Whilst offering a retro storytelling experience for its audience, shows will be contemporary in their dialogue, lots of fun, and above all entertaining.
The Original Team
I continue to make puppets and costume as well as working on The Yellow Box Storytellers. I also teach at Wimbledon School of Art on the ‘Puppet making’ module for the Technical Arts and Special Effects BA degree course.
Emma originally trained as an actress at Central but was caught by the puppet bug and worked on several projects for the Little Angel Theatre, has performed as Lola, in the series of Charlie and Lola plays, and recently come back from a successful stint at the Edinburgh festival.
Catherine has also made puppets for the Little Angel Theatre and worked with the Little Angel youth group, producing some great shows with them. She continues to work on new projects using her engineering degree to great effect!
I would also like acknowledge the invaluable help , advice and support from Tim Sykes, Sue Dacre, Daryl Worbey and all at The Little Angel theatre.