Drew Colby

Drew Colby (born in Great Britain) has worked with puppets in Southern Africa and the UK for over 30 years. He began with glove puppets and marionettes at the age of 12, whilst at school in Namibia. His first professional work was from 1995 - 1998 at the Playhouse Puppet Company in Durban, South Africa. Work spanned traditional double-bridge, long-string marionette shows, open stage bunraku-style puppetry, and performances with mixed styles of puppetry, acting, mask work and dance. From this experience Drew developed work over the next three years using open-stage short-string marionettes and rod puppets. The culmination of this period was a performance of "Madiepetsana and the Milk bird" at the 1999 International Festival of Marionette Art in Prague, Czech Republic. Drew returned to the UK in 2000 and worked at the Little Angel Theatre, notably with Steve Tiplady on "Jonah and the Whale", in 2002-2003. Drew's fascination with everyday objects grew out of this experience - during this