The Return of the Great Puppet Horn

The Return of The Great Puppet Horn by Pangolin’s Teatime England is a spectacle of image projection and shadow puppetry. The entire show was produced, directed and performed by Jeremy Bidgood and Lewis Young. Taking on a variety of characters the actors address several issues in today’s society: immigration, the UK’s financial climate and the recession, education and benefits to name but a few.

Using only a small white screen, a projector and a variety of puppets, which are carelessly disposed of once they have served their purpose, they begin. Using only the generic theme of wizardry and the famous theme tune to relate to the Harry Potter franchise, they present and retell the story of David Cameron’s rise to power. Strangely, they also manage to liken Take That’s success to the cause of the British recession in both 1992 and 2012.

This storyline is intersected by superhero Grammar Cop’s adventures and the story of the stereotyped immigrant Bi Polar Bear. While Bidgood and Young clearly wrote their piece as a satirical social commentary, it draws on too many stereotypes and leans too heavily on clichés for it to be funny. It was a little tedious for some - even with a short running time of 60 minutes one woman had fallen asleep.

Providing the audience with occasional bouts of laughter the story moved forward in a disjointed fashion. Unfortunately The Return of the Great Puppet Horn gradually became ever more disappointing. The derogatory language, descriptions and imagery used in conjunction with a farfetched narrative insulted too many and complimented too few in the audience.

Although there are elements to this show that are executed brilliantly, of which the puppetry is the most notable example, there were areas that are considerably lacking in their ability to appeal to the mass public.