Folkestone Puppet Festival and Lifting Stories (André Braga-Verissimo)
Founded by André Braga-Verissimo in 2017, Folkestone Puppet Theatre creates original puppet and visual theatre designed to entertain, inspire and challenge audiences. Its work brings artists and communities together through puppetry, storytelling, music and participatory performance.
The company established Folkestone Puppet Festival, a free programme presenting puppetry for children and adults in public spaces across the town. Combining performances by visiting companies with workshops, giant puppets and outdoor activity, the festival introduced broad audiences to puppetry as both an accessible popular tradition and a contemporary art form.
More recently, Folkestone Puppets was commissioned by the Folkestone Leas Lift Company Charity to create Lifting Stories, an interactive touring production about Folkestone’s Grade II*-listed funicular railway. The show transforms the lift into a puppet character that tells its own story - from its opening in 1885 and the generations who built, operated and travelled on it to its closure and restoration.
Developed by André with a team of local artists, Lifting Stories combines puppetry, visual theatre, live music and real memories contributed by Folkestone residents. Performances in schools, community settings, care homes and public venues have helped people of different ages connect with the lift’s history and understand its place in the town’s collective identity.
