Meet the puppets
Ernesto Grump
Little is known about the early life of Mr Grump - as he is known to those few friends that he has. He is a method actor puppet who specialises in roles in which the characters he portrays are excessively selfish, mean and greedy. Although it is rumoured that early in his career, he received acclaim for his portrayal of Rumpelstiltskin, his career hardly flourished as he was left in a shoebox for years until being rediscovered in 2017 by Pegasus. He received rave reviews for his star turn in ‘The Magic Sewing Machine’ at the Vestry House Museum in Walthamstow and the Hove Grown Festival at the Rialto Theatre in Brighton. His performance, as a wealthy, well-groomed, soft leather gloved man who ruthlessly squeezes the last penny from the children in his care but eventually gets his comeuppance and is forced to accept the role of caretaker and cleaner in a circus school, has been described by one critic as nothing short of breath-taking. Ernesto is about to come off the Covid-19 furlough and would be happy to entertain offers of other roles suited to his character – or just be given the chance to entertain children again.
Little is known about the early life of Mr Grump - as he is known to those few friends that he has. He is a method actor puppet who specialises in roles in which the characters he portrays are excessively selfish, mean and greedy. Although it is rumoured that early in his career, he received acclaim for his portrayal of Rumpelstiltskin, his career hardly flourished as he was left in a shoebox for years until being rediscovered in 2017 by Pegasus. He received rave reviews for his star turn in ‘The Magic Sewing Machine’ at the Vestry House Museum in Walthamstow and the Hove Grown Festival at the Rialto Theatre in Brighton. His performance, as a wealthy, well-groomed, soft leather gloved man who ruthlessly squeezes the last penny from the children in his care but eventually gets his comeuppance and is forced to accept the role of caretaker and cleaner in a circus school, has been described by one critic as nothing short of breath-taking. Ernesto is about to come off the Covid-19 furlough and would be happy to entertain offers of other roles suited to his character – or just be given the chance to entertain children again.
Edith Snap (nee Schnaap)
Animated into an aristocratic German family, Edith changed her name when she applied for her Equity card. Having been the understudy for a variety of great parts such as Cruella Deville in ‘101 Dalmatians’, the Wicked Witch of the West in ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and the cruel stepmother in ‘Cinderella,’ Edith finally got her breakout role in ’The Magic Sewing Machine’ alongside Ernesto Grump. Clearly type cast as the scheming villain who steals the children away from their happy home, her mesmerising performance won her a nomination for best supporting puppet and numerous offers from daytime TV. Although she did not win, she was justifiably proud of a true to life character finally receiving the recognition they deserve instead of all those goody two-shoes who skipped their way to the top via the casting workbench. Professionally Edith Snap is not averse to being type cast and is keen to participate in future performances of 'The Magic Sewing Machine' or in other roles suited to her character. However, there is concern within Pegasus about Edith’s well-being and current location. When she missed her photo-op it was discovered that she had tunnelled out of her puppet box and rumour has it that she has been involved in a series of diamond heists in the south of France. Interpol has been alerted.
Animated into an aristocratic German family, Edith changed her name when she applied for her Equity card. Having been the understudy for a variety of great parts such as Cruella Deville in ‘101 Dalmatians’, the Wicked Witch of the West in ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and the cruel stepmother in ‘Cinderella,’ Edith finally got her breakout role in ’The Magic Sewing Machine’ alongside Ernesto Grump. Clearly type cast as the scheming villain who steals the children away from their happy home, her mesmerising performance won her a nomination for best supporting puppet and numerous offers from daytime TV. Although she did not win, she was justifiably proud of a true to life character finally receiving the recognition they deserve instead of all those goody two-shoes who skipped their way to the top via the casting workbench. Professionally Edith Snap is not averse to being type cast and is keen to participate in future performances of 'The Magic Sewing Machine' or in other roles suited to her character. However, there is concern within Pegasus about Edith’s well-being and current location. When she missed her photo-op it was discovered that she had tunnelled out of her puppet box and rumour has it that she has been involved in a series of diamond heists in the south of France. Interpol has been alerted.
Canis Lupus
Before becoming a folk-tail star in the long running panto ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, Wolf or Wolfy, as his fans insist on calling him (much to his mother’s annoyance), worked with an itinerant puppet group performing a range of roles – and first becoming noticed during a walk-on part in David Attenborough ‘Blue Planet’. His career does not seem to have been at all affected by having been outed as a vegan during a performance at Glastonbury and his meteoric rise to fame has not altered his modest and unassuming personality, as evidence by his frequently giving up his Christmases to perform at care homes in Brighton such as Brooke Mead and at the Dementia Café. He claims to have been in the forefront of modern-day gender politics with his performance as a cross-dresser in ‘the Hood’, as he likes to call it. His dream is to recreate the role of Werewolf made famous by Hugh Jackman when the copyright on its expirers and it becomes affordable for puppetry theatres. He claims that a four-legged version will be much more believable.
Before becoming a folk-tail star in the long running panto ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, Wolf or Wolfy, as his fans insist on calling him (much to his mother’s annoyance), worked with an itinerant puppet group performing a range of roles – and first becoming noticed during a walk-on part in David Attenborough ‘Blue Planet’. His career does not seem to have been at all affected by having been outed as a vegan during a performance at Glastonbury and his meteoric rise to fame has not altered his modest and unassuming personality, as evidence by his frequently giving up his Christmases to perform at care homes in Brighton such as Brooke Mead and at the Dementia Café. He claims to have been in the forefront of modern-day gender politics with his performance as a cross-dresser in ‘the Hood’, as he likes to call it. His dream is to recreate the role of Werewolf made famous by Hugh Jackman when the copyright on its expirers and it becomes affordable for puppetry theatres. He claims that a four-legged version will be much more believable.
Tina Simone
Tina Simone (born Louisa May Flynn; November 26, 1965) American-born singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. The sixth of eight children, in a family struggling to make ends meet; Simone rose to fame to be known latterly as the Queen of Rock and Roll. Her career kicked off as part of the
duo Kermit and Tina in the 1980s. After her messy divorce from Kermit, she took a break from her career for a couple of years and went to Ghana to visit relatives and rediscover her roots. Whilst there she volunteered in a local school for children with disabilities and enjoyed singing and communicating with the children through movement and song, as well as words. In 1991 Simone launched a successful career as a solo performer. She is noted for her energetic stage presence, powerful vocals, trademark legs, fabulous hairdos and career longevity. She is now much admired within the puppet community as a role model for young black female puppets, having overcome many difficulties in her personal life to achieve great success. Turner’s planned world tour of residential homes for the elderly was unfortunately cancelled due to lockdown restrictions. This threw her into temporary depression, but after help from her personal therapist and lots of singing in the shower, she is ready and keen to re-launch her singing career, when the time is right and the pandemic is over. In the meantime, she has been familiarising herself with Zoom as a way to communicate with her many friends who are self-isolating and enjoys doing exercises to keep herself fit with Joe Wicks. Tina Simone loves working for Pegasus and much admires the wonderful work they do in the community.
Tina Simone (born Louisa May Flynn; November 26, 1965) American-born singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. The sixth of eight children, in a family struggling to make ends meet; Simone rose to fame to be known latterly as the Queen of Rock and Roll. Her career kicked off as part of the
duo Kermit and Tina in the 1980s. After her messy divorce from Kermit, she took a break from her career for a couple of years and went to Ghana to visit relatives and rediscover her roots. Whilst there she volunteered in a local school for children with disabilities and enjoyed singing and communicating with the children through movement and song, as well as words. In 1991 Simone launched a successful career as a solo performer. She is noted for her energetic stage presence, powerful vocals, trademark legs, fabulous hairdos and career longevity. She is now much admired within the puppet community as a role model for young black female puppets, having overcome many difficulties in her personal life to achieve great success. Turner’s planned world tour of residential homes for the elderly was unfortunately cancelled due to lockdown restrictions. This threw her into temporary depression, but after help from her personal therapist and lots of singing in the shower, she is ready and keen to re-launch her singing career, when the time is right and the pandemic is over. In the meantime, she has been familiarising herself with Zoom as a way to communicate with her many friends who are self-isolating and enjoys doing exercises to keep herself fit with Joe Wicks. Tina Simone loves working for Pegasus and much admires the wonderful work they do in the community.
The Seven Dwarves
As part of the well know puppet repertory company ‘Whistle While you Work’, we were delighted to join Pegasus and to work with the residents of Brooke Mead, who provided the final touches, painting our faces, arranging our hair, giving us our individual characters. We decided to leave our former employment when they tried to force us into signing a ‘No Shenanigans please, we’re Irish’, or some such clause; but we’d have none of it. Nor were we happy about Snow White always getting star billing when she hardly had any lines and she was so bad at whistling that it had to be dubbed! Our former employers were also intransient when we suggested some gender and race changes to the script and thought that we might fare better in the more bohemian culture that Brighton is well known for. The Brooke Mead crowd were more than happy to embrace a broader worldview and our ideas of updating our act by bringing in a bit more diversity. We therefore were delighted to welcome Shirley into our group although she has yet to have decided on her stage name as most of the good ones (e.g. Happy, Grumpy, Sneezy, were already taken). We are also delighted to announce that Happy has now been drug free for over a year! While ‘resting’ during the pandemic, some of the gang are toying with the idea of joining our distant cousins in Scandinavia, but the winters there look a bit too chilly us. So, we are spending our time in local parks clearing away the overgrown trees and bushes to let air and sunlight in, clearing rotting leaves out of the water to encourage fish, water beetles and other pond life to thrive and helping to release biodiversity. After all, we’ve got the spades and pickaxes, don’t mind getting a bit muddy.
As part of the well know puppet repertory company ‘Whistle While you Work’, we were delighted to join Pegasus and to work with the residents of Brooke Mead, who provided the final touches, painting our faces, arranging our hair, giving us our individual characters. We decided to leave our former employment when they tried to force us into signing a ‘No Shenanigans please, we’re Irish’, or some such clause; but we’d have none of it. Nor were we happy about Snow White always getting star billing when she hardly had any lines and she was so bad at whistling that it had to be dubbed! Our former employers were also intransient when we suggested some gender and race changes to the script and thought that we might fare better in the more bohemian culture that Brighton is well known for. The Brooke Mead crowd were more than happy to embrace a broader worldview and our ideas of updating our act by bringing in a bit more diversity. We therefore were delighted to welcome Shirley into our group although she has yet to have decided on her stage name as most of the good ones (e.g. Happy, Grumpy, Sneezy, were already taken). We are also delighted to announce that Happy has now been drug free for over a year! While ‘resting’ during the pandemic, some of the gang are toying with the idea of joining our distant cousins in Scandinavia, but the winters there look a bit too chilly us. So, we are spending our time in local parks clearing away the overgrown trees and bushes to let air and sunlight in, clearing rotting leaves out of the water to encourage fish, water beetles and other pond life to thrive and helping to release biodiversity. After all, we’ve got the spades and pickaxes, don’t mind getting a bit muddy.
Grandma, Grandpa and Toby
We would like to introduce you to our three new Pegasus Players, Grandma, Grandpa and Toby, all formally working at a children’s preschool in Worthing they decided to make the move east to try out the bright lights of Brighton. Toby says he can’t wait for the usual Brighton nightlife to restart, Grandma is looking forward to sampling ice cream from all the new gelato shops that have opened in the city and perhaps joining one of the many choirs in Brighton, probably one with funky songs and Grandpa fancies joining in with the pétanque on the seafront in Hove. They are hoping for a ride on the i360 soon although Toby hasn’t got the best head for heights he certainly has the best head of hair!! All are keen to join in with the puppetry scene in their new hometown and are grateful to Chris and Stella who have kindly offered them accommodation where they will meet other esteemed and well-regarded puppets.
We would like to introduce you to our three new Pegasus Players, Grandma, Grandpa and Toby, all formally working at a children’s preschool in Worthing they decided to make the move east to try out the bright lights of Brighton. Toby says he can’t wait for the usual Brighton nightlife to restart, Grandma is looking forward to sampling ice cream from all the new gelato shops that have opened in the city and perhaps joining one of the many choirs in Brighton, probably one with funky songs and Grandpa fancies joining in with the pétanque on the seafront in Hove. They are hoping for a ride on the i360 soon although Toby hasn’t got the best head for heights he certainly has the best head of hair!! All are keen to join in with the puppetry scene in their new hometown and are grateful to Chris and Stella who have kindly offered them accommodation where they will meet other esteemed and well-regarded puppets.
