The Assembly of Animals

The Assembly of Animals is a performed sculpture which combines puppets, objects and scientific demonstrations.

Children and adults alike are invited to witness the inner workings of a laboratory as it searches for life in material.

A series of red curtains are drawn to reveal an intricate sequence of operations bringing to life a fragile universe of animals within animals.

At the centre of it all is the shape of the animal: a head, a body and four legs. The shape gets taken apart, enlarged, shrunk, rearranged into different versions and stretched to the edges of recognition.

“The Assembly of Animals demands your utmost attention even if you have no idea what is happening, and gains the hushed respect a museum of odd, but precious, things deserves. Absolutely fascinating, undeniably bonkers.”
– Flossie Waite, Children's Theatre Review

“It was really refreshing to expose my young daughter to something so mysterious and visually stimulating as opposed to so much of the saccharin rubbish she has to put up with most of the time.”
– parent of young audience member 

Created by Tim Spooner
Lighting design by Marty Langthorne

Operated by Tim Spooner, Natacha Poledica, Enrico Aurigemma (for Edinburgh)

Produced by Artsadmin for Bamboo supported through the EU Culture Programme.
Co-produced by TJP-Centre Dramatique National d’Alsace-Strasbourg. Funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Additional support from Cambridge Junction.