John Wright, founder of the Little Angel Theatre in Islington, created this marionette for the Puppet Centre in 1977. In 1961 he discovered a derelict temperance hall in Islington and transformed it into a theatre designed specifically for children and for the presentation of marionettes. The Little Angel Theatre opened on 24 November 1961.
Over the next three decades the company produced more than thirty full‑scale shows, touring widely across the UK and abroad. They absorbed new influences through international festival appearances in Europe, the USA and the Far East, collaborated with musicians on major productions for the South Bank and Barbican Centres, and became a vital training ground for emerging puppeteers. Following Wright’s death in 1991, the theatre’s work continued under the direction of Lyndie Wright and Christopher Leith, himself a distinguished puppeteer who had learned his craft at the Little Angel.
