Jack and the Devil's Purse
A rollicking tale full of miscreants, misfits and malingerers!

Jack lives with his poor old ma, and like most boys his age he's a little 'too bad for heaven' and much 'too good for hell'.
But mainly, he's just bored! Surely there must be more to life than this? Enter the devil...

A show for adults and young adults (10 years +) where Faustian deals lead to a rites-of-passage journey, with young Jack barely one step ahead of the heat!

In a time of credit card crisis this darkly comic adventure, about the value of money, is brought dangerously to life with ingenious puppetry and dynamic storytelling.


This project is inspired by an old tale, as told by the late master story-teller, Duncan Williamson. Duncan was a member of the Scottish Travelling Community and by his own reckoning held over 3000 stories in his head!
This unique cultural tradition of oral story-telling amongst Scottish Travellers goes back as long as they themselves have been traveling the roads and by ways of Scotland, since the 1500's.

We have the kind permission of Dr. Linda Williamson to adapt Duncan's story. Linda has worked dedicatedly to document and publish Duncan's trove of Scottish Traveller stories; ensuring their survival and enjoyment by a wider audience.
As the legal custodian of Duncan's work she has fully endorsed our intentions:

"James Richardson has visited me to discuss the puppetry project...His ideas and designs would be entirely traditional and certainly help keep the tale alive for generations to come. Duncan would have fully endorsed this project had he been alive.
Beyond any doubt, the show proposed by by James Richardson would be beneficial to the arts education of children in Britain." (letter dated 11/11/08)

As a regionally based company here in Devon Angel Heart Theatre have secured the kind support of The Barbican Theatre, Plymouth in developing this work during our rehearsal period. We are happy to announce that Jack and the Devil's Purse will premiere there at the beginning of February 2011.

If you are interested in promoting or in any way supporting this project please watch this space and/or contact us: james@angelhearttheatre.com / 01803 840936.

In the meantime, as Duncan would have said, "May the De'il walk behind ye!"

The Blacksmith