Kerikeri puppet festival aims to brighten winter

The Morph crew, from left, Jo Danilo, Claire Gordon and Kylie Penn with a few of their puppet friends. Photo / supplied

Shadow puppets in shop windows, youth theatre, puppetry workshops and a concert by the Hipstamatics — possibly featuring some puppet guests — will all feature in a new festival in Kerikeri next month.

The July 6-10 Morph! Puppet Festival is the brainchild of Kylie Penn, who has spent the past 25 years developing puppet-based theatre and film.

Winter 2022, after a difficult two years of Covid restrictions and sporadic lockdowns, was the perfect time to lift people's spirits with an all-ages festival, Penn said.

She had collaborated with event photographer Claire Gordon and graphic designer Jo Danilo — both with event organisation experience — to come up with a five-day programme.

The festival would start with a free event (registration essential) in which shop windows in Kerikeri's town centre would host shadow puppet scenes set to Spark's 0800 Matariki audio series.

Each scene tells the story behind one of the stars in the Matariki cluster.

All other events would be held at the Turner Centre.

They included a magical show for children by Kerikeri Youth Theatre, workshops, an interactive tour, a dance night with funk band the Hipstamatics, and a play for all ages by Whangārei's Company of Giants with artist Soju Shots.

Penn, who founded creative studio The Magic Playhouse and won acclaim for directing and designing last year's Kerikeri Theatre Company production of The Sound of Music, hoped Morph would become a biennial event.

That would make it New Zealand's first ongoing, multi-day puppet festival.

By drawing people from around Aotearoa the event could bring in valuable tourism income during the quiet winter months.

The World Puppet Theatre Festival in France featured 450 international artists with 50,000 attendees every two years, Penn said.

"There's a magic to puppets that can do more than just connect, it can take people to another place, another time, away from their worries."

■ Go to morphpuppetfestival.com for more information. Tickets and registrations available from the Turner Centre and iTicket.