Moving Hands is a visual theatre company producing innovative and original shows mainly for family audiences

Our performances combine puppetry, mask, mime, physical theatre, dance, animation, projection and drama. We collaborate with musicians, dancers and visual artists doing new and interesting work and have a particular interest in collaborating with South African Artists and Cultural exchanges across continents

Our core team of artists have been together since 1991. Moving Hands shows are devised, where performers, collaborating artists, musicians, designers contribute to all aspects of any performance from original concept to design and production. We have long production and design period before rehearsals begin, allowing for our unique totally integrated visual style

Our most recent production The Emperors New Machine ( Moving Hands / Birmingham Repertory co- production) was a collaboration with South African mechanical sculpture artists Mark O'Donovan who uses a unique blend of moving sculpture, music and machines, and on The Ugly Eagle we worked with renowned South African Dancers Sandile Mbili and Musa Hlatswayo

Both productions combined, puppetry, projection ( In The Emperor's New Machine, we used live filmed footage as audience members get a makeover) and storytelling. Watch out for a return visit to the Birmingham REP and national tour of the The Emperor's New Machine Christmas 2008

“ At a time when experimental theatre companies are looking at cutting edge ways of using film and animation in their shows, it takes a children's Theatre co. to show them how it can be done. Here it complements the action and makes it an integral part of the performance”

Lyn Gardner The Guardian

We tour smaller scale shows to schools, art centres and rural touring venues and we run educational projects such as 'The Story Box ' where we work in a school over a series of weeks. We are specialists in early years education and work with special needs children. Our visual style ensures our work is accessible to both deaf and English second language audiences

Workshops are available in all forms of visual theatre, including animation

Moving Hands Animation is a production team of artists, animators and film makers who provide exciting and intensive workshops in the magic of animated film to participants(initiates) both young and old

Specialising in traditional stop-frame animation techniques, the full exploration of creating moving image is facilitated in all workshops and the resulting films edited to professional standards and screened to public audiences

Moving Hands Animation projects have a long-standing reputation of recreating mini, animation studio environments with all necessary filming, lighting, and computer equipment in school and community settings

This year our animators worked in the New Crossroads township of Cape Town, South Africa as part of the Cascoland project; a team of international artists funded by Dutch and South African partners who work within local communities to create a series of interventions in their public spaces

Over 4 weeks young students of New Crossroads gained hands on experience of the entire animation process from creating storyboards, making characters and background sets, model manipulation and filming to recording voice overs and sound effects. Their films premiered in the local Mayenzeki Church Hall of New Crossroads and were screened on Mobile TV units in the front yards of local residents’ homes as part of the Cape Town Festival

Animated film projects have been tailored-made to compliment theatre productions (Peter Pan at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in Birmingham) as part of their education programme, as projected backdrops for musical productions at the CBSO (Wren’s Last Gift) and to address specific issues within schools or in support of a variety of disadvantaged minority groups

Our most recent Birmingham screening of “Channel Flicking” produced by young refugee and newly arrived school students from over 14 different countries demonstrates the use of object manipulation, paper, clay and drawn animation to successfully communicate their unique experiences whilst bridging language and cultural barriers

“You allowed newly arrived pupils (some only here a matter of weeks) to have a positive experience where they could all achieve and produce something of value. This helped them settle into school much quicker, and more importantly they all really enjoyed it and want to do it again

The animation over-came language barriers, you and your team were really able to communicate with the pupils, we learnt a lot about them through you and the project”

Helena France, St John Wall School arts coordinator

In 1995 and again in 2006 Moving Hands Theatre received grants through the Arts Council of England to fund procurement of a touring vehicle, office equipment and state of the art video, animation and sound facilities. We receive project funding from the Arts Council West Midlands and The Birmingham city council

West Midlands Arts