The London Marionette Theatre was established in 1927, with its theatre and workshop housed in a row of outbuildings behind Ravenscourt Gardens near Stamford Brook, London. This was also the home of Waldo Lanchester, whose ground‑floor workshop served as the centre of the company’s creative activity. Above it, in his living quarters, Lanchester constructed a small performance stage on which the London Marionette Theatre presented its early productions.
The photograph shows puppeteer and puppet‑maker Doris Bickerdyke (centre) working in Lanchester’s workshop, accompanied by his mother, Edith Lanchester (left). It offers a rare glimpse into the environment where the company’s marionettes were designed, crafted, and brought to life.
