Imaginary Friends

A mobile street performance, with a ten-person ensemble and their life-size doppelgängers.

Ten performers and ten life-size puppets lead the audience on a journey through the twisting and turning streets of group relationships.Imaginary Friends is a mobile outdoor performance, combining narrative with group improvisation, singing and theatrical set-pieces.

The troupe come to life in series of guises, continually remaking themselves into a gang of drunks, a group of ventriloquists, a dance troupe, nurses and patients, children and teddy-bears, rescuers and the rescued, the socially embarrassed and the socially embarrassing. Imaginary Friends fuses choreography, improvisation and singing to mould images of tenderness, humour, surprise and cartoon-style violence into a story of life on the move.

Imaginary Friends is a collaboration between the British company Whalley Range All Stars and the Dutch company Babok. Both groups explore a variety of outdoor theatre forms and how these can interact with the public.

“I LOVED the show so much … One of the great highlights of the festival … Its imagination was overwhelming and the audience response was great.”

William Galinsky (Director – Norwich & Norfolk Festival)

“Really enjoyed the show – it’s really tight now and use of the built environment was particularly impressive.”

Jeremy Shine (Director – Lakes Alive Festivals)

“Gorgeous … amusing … gratifying … Toys very consciously and openly with its audience, and treads a careful line between improvisation and prepared material. Fun and games indeed!”

Dorothy Max Prior (Total Theatre Magazine)