Drama@Drylaw

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

​Looking for friendship and Fun?

​This confidence building community based class is ‘drop in’, free to attend and runs weekly on Tuesdays from 10.30 to 12.30 at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre. We do lots of different standalone skills based drama exercises and games every week plus conversation and mutual support. 

Participant feedback 2026

“Fun and laughter, a cup of tea and a blether, new friends and learning different styles of stage work. What a brilliant way to learn drama”.

“Drama with a difference. No memorising words, lines or a show Just chat, coffee, tea and relaxing movements. Then games, acting out a little word or task –  charades. Terrific fun and laughter with an very experienced Tutor and a great group of like minded folk.”

“I enjoy drama. It helps me with my confidence and helps my anxiety. I have met such wonderful people 
We get to  enjoy our morning coffee and to hear about things in which others in group have been up to in past week
There is no pressure to share its up to the individual. We learn through gentle warm up exercises and fun games and act out some scenes within group. Fun warm friendly safe place to be”

The Biggar Little Festival

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

Ada and Little Toy are heading south! There is great excitement amongst the Suitcases – The Little Toy (3-5s at 11am) and The Seven Ravens (5 to 7s at 3pm) are both heading to the Little Biggar Festival on the 16th October.

Tickets are available at the Festival Box Office on the day but, even better, and really, really helpful you can book online here: Little Toy and The Seven Ravens

You can browse the full catalogue here: Biggar Festival Whats On

And checkout the Festival Playlist here!

Ada – An International Star

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment
Poster for Scottish International Storytelling Festival Family Programme with picture of small puppet wearing a hoodie and the hands of the puppeteer operating it.
Ada is Performing!

Ada is very excited to let us all know that she will be performing at the International Storytelling Festival’s Family Programme later this year! She has already packed and oiled her suitcase – an essential maintenance procedure since she discovered what might happen to her suitcase locks if neglected …

Catch her and her suitcase this October 13th and 14th October at The Scottish Storytelling Centre sisf.org.uk

#scotstoryfest #SuitcaseStories #families #puppetry #storytelling

@scotstoryfest
@scottishstorytellingcentre
@tracscotland
@edinburghfestivals

Where in the World?

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

This Friday Little Toy and Ada are off to the Pittenween Festival! We will be at the Church Hall James Street and we are beyond excited! Come and see us! Bring the family! What do you think of our new noticeboard?

#puppetry #Pittenweem #storytelling #families #earlyyears #needlefelting #crafts #creativeplay

The Making of a Noticeboard

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

Very recently I learnt that I needed a noticeboard. A bit of a lightbulb moment and inspired by some lovely artists I had met at Wildhood Festival recently. So I got together various bits and pieces from the scrap cupboard, bought a few essentials and asked my friend Panna Chauhan, calligrapher extraordinaire, if she would help me with the lettering – and she did! Here is a wee essay of a rather enjoyable project we shared under the watchful eye of Tragic Carpet’s HR department, Branwen.

picture of woman smiling and sitting with a dog beside the board
cl;ose up of cut otu letters on the board that say 'suitcase stories' in brightly coloured card on a blackboard background
plackboard with bright letters saying Suitcase Stories and signed 'designed by Panna'
same piece of wood but with black paiont and a small paintroller on it
rough wood with cloth and knotting solution

Backstage at Suitcase Stories

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment
Gem, Addy and Little Toy are waiting in the wings!

Last few tweaks and rehearsal in the kitchen.  We are very excited to be heading off to the #Wildhood Festival tomorrow. Ada and the Seven Ravens are preening feathers and packing rucksacks as we speak. #freelancelife #puppeteer #storytelling #WildhoodFestival

Countdown to Wildhood Festival with Ada and Little Toy

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment
A close up side view of the faces of a father and their children intently watching Seven Ravens together
close up of 'Ada' puppet. She sits in a relaxed way, hands in her sweat top pockets.
extreme close up of a tiny figure made of a pipe cleaner and in a tiny world crafted from brightly coloured tissue paper. There are two white figures standing either side of the tiny figure of 'Little Toy'
words suitcase stories cut out of sugar paper in yellows oranges and reds.
chidren watching The Seven Ravens - very close up and very engaged.
child's magnetic letters board witht he words 'next show ow at 2' in magnetic letters
a hand is reaching into a tiny world set within a suitcase

We are already counting sleeps! It is only a few weeks until we take Ada and her story to the Wildhood Festival – Scotland’s multi-award winning children’s festival – at Tullibole Castle in Perthshire. Ada is also bringing her friend – Little Toy – with her – two fabulous Suitcase Stories

Our bags are almost packed already! We can’t wait and are so excited – see you there!!

SpotOn Festival in Lancashire

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

It has been such a blast this mini tour of Lancashire libraries and community spaces with Ada and her story, The Seven Ravens. We have been hosted by the SpotOn, Lancashire’s rural and library touring network. This morning saw our fifth performance to an audience of 33 parents, carers and children in Skelmersdale Library followed by a smashing welcome in the afternoon at Parbold Library.

I also had an exceptional breakfast bap at Thirsty & Co at Dangerous Corner in Appleby Bridge. This brings me to the spectacular scenery I have been driving through – I had forgotten how stunning the Lancashire countryside is! We have two more shows tomorrow at Mill Hill Library and The Dog Inn at Belthorn and then I will be facing my little van northwards again. 

Nosferatu in Perth and Kinross

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

On Monday this week I was in Crieff. I shared two performances of ‘Nosferatu’, one of which was dementia friendly, at the Richmond Care Home. Thank you to the wonderful care staff, particularly Suzie and to Strathearn Arts for its support. It was a most enjoyable day!

#Nosferatu #Puppetry #StrathearnArts #RichmondCareHome #Crieff #Storytelling #PerthandKinross

DementiArts from Capital Theatres

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

I am so very pleased and proud to have been invited to write an article in this magazine which is published by Capital Theatres (CP). This came about because I was invited to visit the Capital Theatres Focus Group to share some extracts from Nosferatu and get feedback as to how it might work as a Dementia Friendly performance. The group were very generous with their ideas and discussion and have invited me to share a full performance this Wednesday 24th September at the Festival Theatre’s Brew and Blether event for people living with dementia and their carers. I was also invited to share my thoughts about the experience of visiting the Focus Group in an article in DementiArts.

Over 60s Weekly Drama Classes

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment
a table with some yellow roses in vase, some empty mugs a jug of milk and bowl of sugar and a full packet of Jammy dodger biscuits.

I just love tutoring this class which has been running for several years now. It is relaxed, focussed on friendship and social interaction, and uses drama as a way of having fun together. It always involves a cuppa and some biscuits, a catch up chat at the start and the activities are different each week. It is run on a drop-in basis in case people have appointments, or other events or responsibilities, or even just fancy a week off. It starts on the 2nd of September 10.30 – 12.30 and will run for 16 weeks at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre.

Come along to try it out! Book your place here! https://bit.ly/Over60sDrama

An Actor’s Core Skills: Storytelling

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment
pxl_20250603_1916552583033235648467669516
pxl_20250603_1930013457333803859932019036
pxl_20250603_2004294421068856368250294031

This September I will be delivering this adult weekly acting course for Edinburgh Acting School at Summerhall Arts. The above pictures are of some of last terms students presenting the story they created in their final class of the course. We spent the term looking at lots of different aspects of storytelling – our voices, our bodies, our relationship to the audience, the use (or not) of technology, preparation for performance, rehearing, feeling confident, visual storytelling, object theatre and puppetry. Students wrote original work, performed a piece they had learnt in the past, or an extract from a favourite novel – even a dungeons and dragons scenario. I am looking forward to meeting the new students – there are still spaces available so please do come along to Summerhall this autumn and winter!

Book a place here: https://www.edinburghactingschool.com/actorscoreskills

That Wonderful Week in July

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

As posted previously I had the privilege of travelling down to the home of Puppetcraft in Devon to take a week long marionette carving course with John Roberts. This is my second training course with John, the first being in 2016 which took place at the Little Angel Theatre in Islington, London. This time there was a class of three – my colleagues being both fun to be with and wonderfully supportive – last time there was a class of six. Although almost a month ago the experience is very much in my head. I am itching to get back to making once the wonderful Edinburgh Festival has packed up for another year.

My Two Bessies are off to Beacon Arts!

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

Ada and Little Toy are bringing their stories to Beacon Arts this Sunday. Ada is going on an epic adventure to find her seven brothers and Little Toy is risking life and limb on the high seas in search of best friend Gem. Don’t miss them! Little Toy is at 11 am and Ada’s story – The Seven Ravens – is at 1.30. Click on the links to book! #puppets #stories #fairytales #families #storytelling #objecttheatre #beaconarts

Ada a small puppet dressed in a grey hoodies is sitting cross legged
Tiny toy puppet in a tissue paper landscape
close up of little toy between two simple puppets
a hand is reaching into a tiny world set within a suitcase
two felted puppets a yellow sun and a white moon
A tiny world garden set within a suitcase and showing two puppet children and little toy with an apple tree
Space...open suitcase showing felted landscape in multi colours

Marionette Carving in Devon

~ trappertrunk ~ Leave a comment

Last week was glorious, so very sunny and also extremely challenging. Me and my wee van travelled down to Totnes in Devon to spend a week woodcarving with John Roberts of Puppetcraft. There were two other woodcarving students – lovely folk – and we spent an idyllic, if very hardworking, week designing and making our own marionettes. This was the second time I had done this course with John – the first being in May 2016 at The Little Angel – and it was really good to revisit the processes and to approach the week with a better understanding of puppetry and even a little bit of wood carving experience under my belt. Very happy.