Designer, Maker and Puppeteer
Caroline Bowman trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 2010. She has a foundation degree in fine art, and a strong grounding in performance, having performed all over the world as a member of Albert and Friends Instant Circus (1997-2009). She started her experimental performance company The Rainbow Collectors with co-creator Charlotte Quartermaine in 2008, specialising in blurring the lines between bodies, objects, movement and emotions.
Before joining forces with Ivan in 2015 to create Citizen Squid, Caroline spent a year in War Horse in the west end. She operated the head of Captain Hook in the London Olympic Opening Ceremony (2012). She Puppeteered the head of a giant dragon-bird in Bregenz Festspielhaus’s production of Die Zauberflote (2013). She toured with Charlie and Lola’s Best Bestest Play between 2010 and 2017. She advised Aitor Throup on puppetry, and performed in his SpringSummerAutumnWinter show at London Fashion week (2016).
Since 2015 Caroline has worked closely with Nick Barnes, creating puppets for shows such as The Life of Pi (Sheffield Theatres), The Butterfly Lion (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Little Prince (Fuel), Dr. Dolittle (national tour), The Lorax (Old Vic), The Ring (Lyric Opera of Chicago), the Proms (BBC), Madam Butterfly (The ENO), Beauty and the Beast (Chichester Festival Theatre), Mr Popper’s Pengins (National tour), and Disney. With Blind Summit she worked on El Gato Con Botas (Gotham Chamber Opera, New York) and The Call of the Wild (RCSSD). With Gyre and Gimble she worked on The Four Seasons (The Globe), and The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic). She has also worked in the puppet hospitals of Wes Anderson”s Isle of Dogs (2018) and Fantastic Mr Fox (2009), as well as Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie (2012), and operated the head of Jack in Gary Freedman’s short film of that name (2020).
With Puppets With Guts Caroline has created Citizen Squid, Rampaging Rhinoceros, and The Lips.