Meet Tim Butler Garrett: A Champion of Puppetry Arts
Editor-in-Chief of Puppet Notebook
Meet Tim Butler Garrett: Editor-in-Chief of Puppet Notebook
Tim Butler Garrett’s career in puppetry started in the mid-90s, with a workshop at the BAC run by the Puppet Centre. His passion ignited, he trained with Ronnie Le Drew and Caroline Astell-Burt at the London School of Puppetry.
After a brief sojourn studying Philosophy, he did the MA Advanced Theatre Practice Course at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and was exposed to a whole new world of theatre-making, learning about Physical and Visual Theatre and rediscovering his love of puppet work. His tutor on the course was Penny Francis, and she became a guiding light for him. One of many highlights of the course was a visit with Penny to the Henson Creature Shop, when it still had a base in Camden Town.
After the MA, he worked for various puppet companies, as a puppet maker, performer and dramaturg, taking work to fringe venues in London, the Visions Festival in Brighton, and the Edinburgh Fringe. He formed his own comedy, film and puppet company with fellow Central alumnus Michael Flexer, called Insult to Injury. Gradually adding company members, they created a show a month for five years; their hit rate was quite low, but after five years they had enough material for one really really good show, which The Times hailed as “the acclaimed multimedia sketch show”. They promptly disbanded, and Tim started a PhD in The Puppet, the Cinematic and Contemporary Visual Theatre at UCA/University of Brighton, with Penny Francis as a supervisor.
Tim taught Philosophy, raised his two daughters and finished his PhD. In 2012 he took the reins of Puppet Notebook from Eleanor Margolies, who had started the journal in 2004. Tim has worked as a visiting lecturer at Wimbledon College of Art, as a Creative Workshop leader at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, and is finishing his training as a Psychotherapist.
He still makes puppets, though far less frequently, and sculpts in wood, clay and milliput. He has presented papers at puppet, cinema and theatre conferences in Connecticut, Prague, Venice, Aberystwyth and Washington D.C., amongst others. He writes about film, theatre and puppetry, and his work has been published by Manchester University Press, Bloomsbury and Routledge.
What do you want to see in the next Puppet Notebook?
Tim wants to hear from you! What topics, themes, or ideas would you like to see explored in the next issue of Puppet Notebook.? Whether it's historical insights, contemporary practices, behind-the-scenes features, or interviews with puppet artists, let him know your thoughts and help shape the next edition.