The Black Horse - Lambe Lambe Theatre

The Black Horse is an immersive and intimate piece of audio-visual ‘lambe lambe theatre’, inspired by a personal childhood memory. When I was a child growing up in Dartford, Kent, in the 1990s, my dad used to take my siblings and I to a pub which kept capuchin monkeys. I became obsessed with one of these monkeys, who I named Tufty, and my encounter with him inspired both a life-long interest in monkeys and my creative practice. The piece is both “kitchen sink” realism and poetic; playful yet sincere, and explores unfulfilled yearning, cross-species connection and the transmutation of childhood desires.

This show is four minutes long and can be performed multiple times every hour. It is performed to one audience member at a time, as they peer through a small hole into the box, wearing headphones. It is very intimate and the viewer gets completely immersed into the world.

‘Lame Lambe Theatre’ is a Brazilian tradition invented in the 1970s, of a fully contained puppet show in a box, for one viewer at a time. The show is a secret, viewable only by peeking into a small hole.