Voyage of the Nutjellynana
Space...the cuddly frontier?



Alice, Melby and Fidge.
Three cuddly toys long since loved, left behind and now forgotten in an old attic.

Life looks like it’s lost its stuffing until Fidge has a banana-brained plan…

Build a rocket ship, blast off, and boldly go where no toy has gone before!!

"Easy." says Fidge.
"Bonkers!" says Melby.
"Ooooooh!" says Alice.

But when the 'Nutjellynana' reaches outer space Melby is sucked down a black hole, leaving Alice and Fidge to come to his rescue, making new friends along the way.

Journey out-of-this-world with amazing puppets, fabulous storytelling, a cosmic soundtrack and some salutes to sci-fi classics! This is Angel Heart's new show for all the family over 4 years. If you can, catch the 'Nutjellynana', orbiting a venue near you.

INSPIRATIONS BEHIND THE NUTJELLYNANA:

Well, my family connection to this show is through my uncle: As a producer/director for the BBC during the 1970's he was involved with the making of Doctor Who; way back when Jon Pertwee played the popular and indestructable Time Lord. On a couple of occasions, as a lucky 9 year old, my uncle took me to work with him. I can still vividly remember walking round the Doctor Who set and seeing the Tardis, Cybermen costumes, a headless Dalek and some rather terrifying giant spiders hanging around between takes. And when I bumped into the Doctor himself in a BBC corridor I remember feeling slightly trapped and over-awed in the presence of the Time Lord, as he duly put his mortal name to the piece of paper I handed him. Later on I got to sit in the control room with my uncle whilst they were filming an episode which, ironically, made it all seem far less real.

But after that Sci-Fi left a deep impression on me, and although not an avid reader of it certain novels have definitely been milestones in my understanding of the greater world (and indeed the inner world). One of these is a little known cult novel by Scottish author David Lindsay, 'A Voyage to Arcturus'. Published in 1920 it is a remarkable blend of myth and fantasy and far ahead of its time with its narrative and structure, as well as in its extrordinary vision.

Voyage of the Nutjellynana is of course a much simpler and light-hearted adventure, but the idea behind it is the same as with all science-fiction: dare to imagine what if... And as someone wrote, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land amongst the stars."

THE CREW BEHIND THE CREW:


Granfer, Pa, Ma, Little Titoo and Lo-Fi their pet android.

Joining the Nutjellynana crew are myself and Roz Hilton, as co-performers.

Lisa Green has again brought all her considerable skills as a textile artist to the show. Amongst other things she has created Melby, Alice and Fidge- our very own cuddly toys. We deliberately chose not to make them as puppets, although Roz and I will bring them to 'life' using our range of puppetry techniques. We are hoping this very 'hands-on' approach will inspire young children to see their own cuddly toys in a new light.

However, added to this Lisa and I have created one of our trade-mark hand-carved and fantastically costumed puppets for the adventure: Zella, the planet-hopping and very funky space girl- a sort of Pippi Longstocking meets Barbarella! Roz is so excited- I think it might be her alter-ego!

Shadows are also in this show again and amongst those that have been created are some space aliens. And for those who enjoyed the shadow 'spirits' in Malina's Dream, I can say that they are also being designed by my young son, Leo (aged 6).

Zella and her Zoom-ee Boots.

Musically, we are very pleased that Rachel Miller has again created an original soundtrack for the show. Rachel's music for Malina's Dream was greatly enjoyed by audiences for conjuring up the sounds and feelings of the Arctic. Her soundtrack for the Nutjellynana uses both synthesizer and saxophone and some clever sampling. Altogether it conjures up a real sense of wonder (with just a touch of silliness) opening the imagination to a universe of possibilities!