Kipper show series#
Kipper show mac#

They’re complicit in ignoring the puppeteers and allowing the story to unfold. You’ve got that marvellous thing where the audience suspends disbelief. And it has the same kind of puppetry as in War Horse. There’s lots of fun, comedy and word play in the lyrics of the songs, and they’ve been written specifically for the production. The stage version of Kipper’s Snowy Day overflows with original music and songs, bespoke puppets and humour. It seemed like a very good medium for the kind of drawing I liked doing the most.” Once I’d developed a style, I thought it would perhaps be possible to go into children’s books. I cut my teeth in the world of work, and on illustration in particular, by doing greetings cards for Gordon Fraser. I can’t really remember when my passion for storytelling and illustration started exactly, but it was definitely around that time. My favourite part of English itself was the creative essays and writing. Mick fell in love with all things creative at an early age: “My favourite subjects at school were English and Art. Developing the character of Kipper from The Blue Balloon more than fitted the bill.”

Kipper show series#

What the publisher and I wanted was to base a series of books around a character. The Blue Balloon was a very singular kind of book, so a sequel didn’t really seem to have any legs. In it, Kipper wasn’t quite the Kipper that we see in the later stories and in this show because he was on all-fours and just a boy’s companion. “That was the book which really put me on the map and made me think of myself as a proper, successful children’s author. Kipper the dog first appeared 30 years ago in Mick’s book, The Blue Balloon. This little production really deserves lots of exposure because it is truly wonderful.” Whether you’ve read the Kipper books or not, you’ll be delighted by the surprises along the way. There are graphics, songs, puppets and a wonderful plot - it’s visually interesting and completely original. The fact that they had that freedom meant that they could really play with what they were doing, rather than slavishly putting one of my books on stage. They’ve also introduced their own things, like the storm, which doesn’t appear in either book. So we agreed that they’d make an amalgam of the two main books: Kipper’s Snowy Day and Kipper’s Christmas Eve.

“The production is very faithful to the spirit of the books and the character of Kipper,” says writer & illustrator Mick, “but I urged Slot Machine not to be too worried about being absolutely faithful to the storyline. The show follows the escapades of Kipper and his friends, whose Arctic adventures take a turn for the worse when their pal, Arnold, goes missing in a storm…

Kipper show mac#

Slot Machine Theatre’s Christmas production, Kipper’s Snowy Day - showing at MAC Birmingham from late this month till the end of the year - is based on not one but two of Mick Inkpen’s award-winning books about Kipper the dog. What’s On caught up with the writer & illustrator of the Kipper series, Mick Inkpen, to find out about a new theatrical production that’s bringing together two of his stories. One of children’s literature’s most popular canine characters takes to the stage this month.