
ISOBEL NICOLSON Designer for Performance

The Impossible Fair
Collaborative Puppet Designer and Maker
A site-specific, promenade puppetry performance of an enchanted Victorian circus, staged on Caerphilly Mountain. In this new play written for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama I worked collaboratively within a team of makers on the company's costumes, set dressing, and the construction of a life size elephant puppet, animals on a circus carousel, a 'hook-a-duck' booth on a revolve mechanism, and the finale setting of a circus tent.
Director: Emma Williams
Musical Director: Lucy Rivers
Photos: Kirsten McTurnen & Isobel Nicolson
Venue: Mountain View Ranch
Dorothy the elephant
Maquette vs life size puppet
Scaling joint
Elephant body building
Sewing the finale saddle cloth
Finale headdress
Churning out ducks
building the Hook a Duck revolve
The Hook a Duck booth
Finale tent
Pattern cutting the alligator
Carousel alligator
Carousel animals
Me, some mechanized fish and signs