The Glove Puppet Booth
A Day In Purpletown featured three larger-than-life Purpletown characters, each with their own house on Indigo Avenue - Professor Lerderderg the inventor, Miss Croak the singing teacher, and Neilly the Garden Gnome, who liked to cook. These were all linked together by Baabara the Lamb, who visited each in the course of the day.
Initially this show had a big set, because I had a big van, and could fit it all in...
...but it was a lot of work to get it all inside the Fort-Knox-style security gates and doors of each kindergarten and childcare centre.
So after a few years, I thought there has to be an easier way! My idea was to be able to carry in the whole set, puppets and all, in one trip, and here's what I came up with:
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| Front view after set-up | Rear view 1 | Rear view 2 | Rear view 3 | Side view without side curtains |
And now, meet the wild and wacky folk on Indigo Avenue...
Professor Lerderderg is an inventor, while Mrs Lerderderg is a woman of great tolerance! They both very much like to eat cheese, until the Professor discovers that they have a mouse problem.... of course a chase ensues (he's behind you, he's below you, he's on the other side).... and antics with a mouse trap (ouchies, my nose!).... until a truce is declared, and the mouse becomes a pet (living happily ever after till the end of it's days).
Then comes Baabara the Lamb's singing lesson with Miss Croak, who loves to garden, and has just bought a new flower pot, with a magical flower that will only grow when the right nursery rhyme is sung (Ring-A-Ring-A-Rosy). And there's a wilting problem too. But the children know the answer... water! After that comes the singing lesson, but Baabara has forgotten the song, and needs the children to help (Baa Baa Black Sheep).
For dinner, we're off to see Neilly the Garden Gnome, who has just picked some fresh vegies from his garden for vegetable soup. He asks the children to watch the pot while he goes below to stoke the fire, and to let him know if they see smoke because he doesn't want the dinner to burn. But he's gone too long (smoke! smoke!), much too long (smoke! smoke!), and when he comes back there's a great panic to put out the fire. The dinner is ruined, but Baabara suggests they go into the backyard and have some grass. So all ends well, at least for some!
Then there's the bedtime story, The Dragon Who Ate The Sun, which is on a whole other page.
