The Hatchling will be walking at the head of the Celebration part of the Platinum Jubilee Pageant on June 5th. Tune in on the TV - or come down the The Mall in London!
We have gone public with the Hatchling for 14th & 15th August 2021. Why not click through to find out more?
Our work in the Opera de Paris' production of Aida is available to stream on Arte from the giant Opera de Bastille until August 2021.
Click through for a link.
We're delighted to be involved in creating a new production of Verdi's Aïda with the Opera de Paris.
Click through to read more about the production.
The RSC's hugely enjoyable As You Like It is on the road. It's already been to Salford, Canterbury and London and after Plymouth it can be seen in Nottingham, Newcastle and Blackpool until 4th April.
Mervyn was delighted to be back at the Royal Court this week to offer a little help to the company of Shoe Lady which opens on 8th March.
Previously we've run workshops for writers at the Court, and Mervyn designed puppets for Anthony Neilson's Get Santa! in 2010.
We've two shows on in London this festive season, with the RSC's As You Like It at the Barbican and Circus 1903 returning to the Southbank Centre. And if you're in Vienna, please check out Wie Versteckt Man Einen Elefanten!
We're making a new show for the Burgtheater in Vienna. Click here to find out more.
Following successful Tv appearances on Stephen Colbert and James Corden's shows and on America's Got Talent, the Circus 1903 company pitched tent at the London Palladium in November to record this year's Royal Variety Performance! Broadcast 11 Dec 2018.
We're delighted to be working with Scottish Opera on a new commission which will premiere in Summer 2019. We're shortly to head into the creation process - watch this space for more developments.
We're delighted to be working with the Royal Shakespeare Company on As You Like It, directed by Kimberley Sykes and designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis. More here as we head further into rehearsals.
We're delighted that our Circus 1903 elephants are finally coming "home" to London. Click through to the Circus 1903 page for a booking link
We are currently working in China towards a new musical, Wo De Xiao Huo Ban ("my little friends"), created by the acclaimed Chinese/Mongolian singer Sa Dingding.
Mervyn Millar's book Puppetry: How to Do It is now out from Nick Hern Books. Click through for an introductory discount!
Consider clicking on the big F at the bottom of any page to find our Facebook page - and 'like' it. It contains updates on what we are up to and future plans.
As part of Signs of Life (supported by the Leverhulme Trust) we have been involved in public engagement activities. We gave a series of object animation workshops in November 2017 as part of the Being Human Festival's 'Emotional Objects' event at the Royal College of Nursing. Our symposium at QMUL, featuring Emily Cross, Matthew Longo, Susanne Quadflieg and Joel Smith, is on youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2m_tPi0H8A
You might not have seen that our Circus 1903 elephants have been gracing some big stages and being broadcast on the TV over in the USA. Click through to our Circus 1903 page for links to their appearance on the Stephen Colbert show. They also opened American's Got Talent and made an appearance on the James Corden show.
We're coming back to Zürich to work with the team who created Die Brüder Löwenherz (The Brothers Lionheart) on a new production of Peter Pan, opening in November. A new page will be up soon with more details.
Mervyn will be a guest artist at this year's O'Neill National Puppetry Conference. He will work with a ghroup of puppet artists to develop ideas for Signs of Life, and meet other artists at this event.
Mervyn will be working as Artist in Residence this year at the Centre for the History of Emotions, at Queen Mary, University of London. The Centre is supported by the Leverhulme Trust in making this position possible. during the Residency Mervyn will be exploring the experience of watching puppetry by corresponding with and meeting researchers in a range of disciplines. What is happening to us when we watch something that we know is dead, but believe is alive, conscious and emotional? Outcomes will include a multidisciplinary symposium event and the beginnings of the script for a new show.
We're delighted to be able to say that Circus 1903 has opened at Sydney Opera House following a short run at the Canberra Theatre Centre. The show will also play at Melbourne's Regent Theatre in January and will embark on a tour of the United States from February. http://www.circus1903.com/ Circus 1903 features incredible circus performers at the very top of their profession. Rehearsals were a constant source of marvel.
The Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary College University of London have been awarded a Leverhulme Trust grant to welcome Mervyn as an Artist in Residence in 2017. We're really excited to take up this post. Mervyn's residency will involve a series of conversations and collaborations with researchers in neurology, experimental psychology, philosophy and other related fields, to explore the science of what is happening when you watch a puppet and 'believe' that it is a living, thinking, emotional being. More on this project as it takes shape in the early months of the year.
We're heading into rehearsals with our life-size African elephants for Circus 1903. We'll post some photos when we have them but in the meantime you can check out the gallery of images from the making of the puppets on our facebook page. Very excited about this show!
Making is going great for our elephants for Circus 1903. We have a brilliant team of makers in the workshop, including Tracy Waller, Jo Lakin, Paul Vincett, Amber Donovan, Helen Foan, Bryony Rumble, Daisy Beattie and Pip Herbst. The processes seem to be working and we're confident that these are going to be amazing puppets.
You might be interested in Strangeface's show Dissonance, which Mervyn has been involved with as dramaturg. More on our page and on Strangeface's website.
We're working in a nice big temporary workshop to make some prototype puppets for The Works' Entertainment's forthcoming spectacular Circus 1903. We've a brilliant team of makers: designers Mervyn Millar and Tracy Waller are supported by Jo Lakin, Charlie Hoare, Helen Foan, Matt Hutchinson and Hattie Thomas. We look forward to the full build in the summer.
Please feel free to email us at: info@significantobject.com
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