Harlequin Puppet Theatre

Britain's oldest purpose-built marionette theatre, founded 1958

A small marionette theatre on the promenade at Rhos-on-Sea, just along the bay from Colwyn Bay proper. The theatre is purpose-built for puppets — sloped audience floor, small proscenium stage, room for around 100 — and the shows are gentle, traditional marionette pieces using the original Bramall figures.

The Harlequin runs weekend matinees most of the year, with extra performances in summer holidays. Shows last about an hour and are aimed primarily at children, though the craftsmanship and the strangeness of seeing string-puppets perform in front of a full orchestral score keep adults watching too. Worth a stop if you have kids; worth a stop anyway if you have any affection for old-fashioned variety theatre.

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Eric Bramall built the theatre on the seafront at Rhos-on-Sea in 1958, the first and still the only theatre in Britain designed and built specifically for puppets. Bramall ran it himself for forty years, performing the same hand-carved marionettes in shows he had written and staged. After his death in 1996, the theatre continued under his long-time partner Chris Somerville, keeping the original repertoire alive.

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