Horse And Bamboo Theatre

Based on the book by Hans Christian Andersen. The Nightingale was written in 1844 and was inspired by Anderson’s love for the opera singer Jenny Lind (who was later nicknamed ‘The Swedish Nightingale’).

It tells the story of a Chinese Emperor who is so enchanted by the song of a nightingale that he keeps the creature captive. However, the Emperor grows tired of the nightingale when he’s given a mechanical, bejewelled version of the bird as a present.

There’s a lot of shadow puppetry in the show, which is the most simple form of puppetry. Black and white and the absence of light is a basic but beautiful way of telling stories, and contrasts with the slickness of the modern, man-made world.