Three giant lips puppets in the dark. They're lit up red and sparks shoot up from the puppets.

The Lips

A dazzling and surreal big puppet mix-tape spectacle

Meet: The Lips

The Lips are a chorus of delightfully deviant divas whose mouths have broken free from their bodies! A luminous outdoor mix-tape show with something to say, The Lips reanimate our favourite songs, celebrate our shared love of popular music and uphold our freedom to speak out, through a big pop puppetry performance that is seductive yet subversive.

  • “The Lips were just so fabulous...!”

    Roxy Robinson, Director of Sky Festival

The Lips are available in 3 formats

Please note formats are combinable and we are able to offer a mixture of different shows across a day or event, e.g. one walkabout and two night-time static shows, or one walkabout, one daytime static show and one night-time static show. We can perform up to three shows a day.

THE LIPS NIGHT-TIME SHOW

A playful trio of luminous, lip-synching divas, The Lips come alive at night!

Highly expressive, The Lips change colour to compliment the playlist, melting from red, to pink, to green, yellow and blue, with moments of show-stopping pyrotechnics and smoke effects throughout. The perfect finale to your festival or event, our karaoke style LED displays encourage audiences to join in as our big puppet divas lead them in a joyful singalong celebration of popular music. From Bowie to Beyonce, there’s a trailblazing track for everyone.

A 30 minute long static show in which The Lips are illuminated in darkness. Includes pyrotechnics, smoke grenades and LED lyric singalong displays.

Three giant lips puppets and their puppeteers in a line, glowing red in the dark.

THE LIPS DAYTIME SHOW

The Lips daytime show is a shorter static production that captivates audiences through a bold and engaging end-on performance punctuated by exhilarating moments of confetti and pyrotechnics. LED lyric displays elevate the show by inviting audiences to singalong with our fabulous big puppet divas!

This engaging big puppet performance appeals to people of all ages due to the high-quality realisation of a simple idea; giant puppet lip-syncing extracts from well-known songs along to synchronised choreography. Joyful and surreal, The Lips show combines visual spectacle, dancing puppeteers and an awesome playlist that brings people together through the unifying effect of popular music.

A 20 minute long static show with LED lyric singalong displays, confetti cannons, smoke grenades and pyrotechnics.

Two of The Lips puppets perform for three young children, whose backs are to the camera.

THE LIPS WALKABOUT SHOW

Send The Lips out to strut their stuff in a local green field, town centre or space of your choosing! The Lips come equipped with portable speakers which allow them to roam freely, serenading unsuspecting passers-by, creating celebratory commotion and delighting all who encounter them.

Floating at 3M high, The Lips sing out above the heads of audiences. During the day they wear a pop of red lipstick, making them hard to miss in a crowd. At night they’re even more spectacular, using creative lighting technology to switch between a dazzling range of illuminated colours. This option does not include pyrotechnics, confetti or smoke.

A roving serenade show in which The Lips roam around a space or area for 25 minutes with portable speakers.

Three puppets manned by three puppeteers, of giant red pairs of lips. Two people sit on a bench opposite them.

The Lips Community Engagement

Community choir inclusion and high-energy dance engagement activities are available as an additional extra to accompany the show.

Check out our Big Lips Sing-along Resource here

Three large lips puppets in the dark, glowing green.
Two people holding each other in between the three big lips puppets, which are glowing red at night.
Three giant red lips puppets and their puppeteers, in front of a small crowd.
Three large lips puppets, glowing yellow, in front of a crowd at night.
One of the giant lips models and their puppeteer in front of a tent. The Lips are emitting sparks from behind them.
Three giant puppets shaped like pairs of lips glow red in the dark.
Three puppeteers with models of giant red pairs of lips, one kneeling, in front of a toddler in a park.
Two giant puppets shaped like pairs of lips glow red and emit sparks.
Three giant lips puppets in the dark. They're lit up red and sparks shoot up from the puppets.
A young child with their back to the camera, in front of three puppeteers with smaller, handheld red lips models and a disco ball.
Three giant lips puppets in front of a crowd. The photo is blurred as if by motion.
Three giant puppets shaped like pairs of lips, in front of a stage, surrounded by people. They glow red.
Three puppeteers with the giant red lips models, standing on grass behind a person on a bench, who has turned to watch them.
Three giant lips puppets and their three puppeteers. The puppets are lit up red/orange in the dark.
Three puppeteers, each on one knee with a large lips puppet.
Three large puppets shaped like pairs of red lips. The puppeteers stand on a promenade and are reflected in the water in front of them.
Three giant lips puppets and their puppeteers in a line, glowing red in the dark.
Two large lips puppets lit up green in front of a crowd at night.

Cast and Creatives

Artistic Director: Ivan Thorley
Designer: Caroline Bowman
Director: Rob Tygner (Previously: Andy Dawson)
Writer: Andrew McCaldon
Lighting & Technologist: Jonathan Hogg (Output Arts)
Puppet Mech Designer: Nick Barnes Puppets
Assistant Director: Sam Clark
Costume and Harness Maker: Maya Lohse
Pyrotechnics: Paul Bryce (Lightfires) and Asher Heigham
Production Management Consultant: Gab Burden
Puppet Makers: Richard Gray, Maia Kirkman-Richards, Arna Kristjansdottir and Chelsey Lee
Puppeteers: Abigail Matthews, Olivia Bourne, Larissa Pinkham, Jeremy Hancock, Elaine Hartley (Past performers: Phoebe Hyder, Ed Wood, Tea Poldervaart, Romina Hytten, Tom Stacy, Peter Twose, Katrina Wesseling, Iskandar Sharazuddin, Tom Wilton, Bertie Harris, Laura Reeves, Matt Rudkin)
Videographers: Jack Parker, Summer Dean and Jon Purchase

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