Man-Monkeys: From Regency pantomime to King Kong. A talk presented by Alan Stockwell MBE.
The Water Rats, UK, WC1 8BZ
Tue 20th February 2024
The talk will explore the origin of an ape as a character in a play, how such plays became a genre of drama and adaption of an ape costume for acrobats and wire walkers.
Alan Stockwell was a professional puppeteer for over forty years. With wife Brenda they comprised the duo Pavlov’s Puppets which featured in many summer shows andpantomimes. In tandem with this variety work they also presented an educational puppet show The Stockwell Puppet Theatre which visited schools, arts centres and festivals. Over several years they performed in a number of foreign countries under the auspices of the British Council. In 2000 Alan was awarded an MBE for his work in educational puppetry. Always interested in showbusiness history, after retiring in 2005 Alan increased his output of articles and talks and published several books under the Vesper Hawk imprint. Recent publications include Perils of the Victorian Stage and Jeopardy within Victorian Theatre (www.vesperhawk.com).