Act I
Every night the moon rose over Bramble Hill, round and gold as a butter biscuit. And every night Fern the fox sat out in the wet grass and wanted it. Not to keep, she told herself. Only to hold.
Act II
So she climbed. Up the hill, up the old spruce, out along the one thin branch that bends like a fishing rod. She hooked the moon with her tail, tucked it under one arm, and ran all the way home.
Act III
But with the moon in her den, the night went blind-dark. Owls bumped into hedges. The river lost its silver. Soon the dark itself came knocking. “Fox,” said the dark, quite kindly, “you have taken my lantern.”
Act IV
So Fern carried the moon back up Bramble Hill and hung it on its hook. She patted it once, to say sorry. It swung, a little. It swings still. Look up on a windy night and you’ll see.
The Papermoon Theatre
The Fox Who Stole the Moon
A shadow-puppet company for children. Everything on this stage is cut from paper: the hills, the fox, the moon. Especially the moon.
fin.
Applause is welcome. Fern takes her bow, and the house lights come up below.
A theatre the size of a garden shed
The Papermoon Theatre is two puppeteers, one lighthouse lamp, forty seats and a great deal of paper. Marta Hale and Dev Okafor founded it in 2011 in the back room of the Fishermen’s Reading Rooms in Whitby, because Marta owned very good scissors and Dev could do an owl.
Every show is cut, folded and glued by hand. Nothing is printed and nothing is photographed; when the fox needs a new tail, she gets one the same afternoon. We believe the finest special effect ever invented is a torch behind a piece of paper, and we have built twelve years of Saturdays on it.
The bill · autumn & winter
The Fox Who Stole the Moon
The one you just watched, only bigger, warmer, and with weather.
Sat & Sun 16:00 · until 22 Nov · 40 min · ages 4 and up, and any grown-up who behaves
ADMIT ONE SMALL PERSON№ 0047
The Paper Whale
A whale swallows the harbour post office. The letters must be delivered anyway.
Fri 17:00 · 3 Oct to 18 Dec · 45 min · ages 5+
ADMIT ONE SMALL PERSON№ 0112
Three Coats for the Winter King
The king is cold. The tailor is small. The snow is confetti, and there is rather a lot of it.
12 Dec to 3 Jan · daily 14:00 & 16:30 · 50 min · ages 4+ · books out by Bonfire Night
ADMIT ONE SMALL PERSON№ 0733
Small people £7 · their grown-ups £9 · babies ride free on laps. The biscuit tin takes coins, notes and solemn promises.
The troupe
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Marta Hale
founder · chief of scissors
Cuts everything twice: once for the show, once for the wall at home.
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Dev Okafor
voices & weather
Does the owl, the sea, the dark, and the fox’s mother. Plays a hurdy-gurdy he will not say where he got.
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Sana Whitlock
lights & moon-wrangling
Keeps the moon on its hook and the torch out of your eyes.
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Tom Brace
front of house
Counts you in, counts you out, and bakes the interval flapjack.
Cut & Tell · Saturday mornings
Bring hands; we provide the rest. Paper, glue, scissors with rounded noses, and one working moon between us. Ages six to eleven, ten o’clock until the biscuits run out. Five pounds, plasters included.
You’ll leave with a puppet, a plot, and paper in your hair. Book at the door, or ring the Reading Rooms and ask for Tom.
Finding us
Behind the Fishermen’s Reading Rooms, 4 Marsh Lane, Whitby, YO21 3PR. Doors open twenty minutes before curtain; the show waits for no one, except actual latecomers, for whom it always waits.
Three steps down, and no bad seat. Ring ahead and the ramp comes out. The box office is a biscuit tin: pay at the door, or promise to come and we’ll write you in the ledger.
| Show | Curtain | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| The Fox Who Stole the Moon | Sat & Sun 16:00 | to 22 Nov |
| The Paper Whale | Fri 17:00 | 3 Oct – 18 Dec |
| Three Coats for the Winter King | daily 14:00 & 16:30 | 12 Dec – 3 Jan |