Sarah Vigars
Swallow Marionette
Sarah Vigars is a puppet maker and puppeteer with a specialism in marionette making (string puppets). Her work combines traditional woodcarving practices with contemporary innovations in design. To date, Sarah has built puppets to commission for small-scale theatre, street theatre, film, participatory projects and private collections. In 2023 marionette making was added to the Heritage Crafts Association’s Red List of Endangered Crafts. Sarah is therefore proud to be one of the UK’s few remaining marionette makers and operators.
Sarah also creates and tours marionette shows for family audiences with her performance company Flying with Strings Marionette Theatre, which was founded in 2020 after Sarah was awarded a DYCP grant by Arts Council England. This funded the development of her marionette making and culminated in the creation of three bird marionettes that now feature in her first show of the same name (displayed here as part of KINETIC). The puppets were awarded MAKE Southwest’s President’s Prize by sculptor Peter Randall Page RA in 2020.
The live show of Flying with Strings has toured to a diverse range of settings including puppetry festivals in Beverley, Newcastle and Smethwick. In 2024 Flying with Strings partnered with Libraries Unlimited and began delivering their work to libraries in Devon, accompanied by a craft workshop for families.
Sarah is currently touring a new show entitled The Treetop Circus. Commissioned in 2025 by Libraries Unlimited, the show is touring to libraries, schools and festivals throughout the Southwest. Key partners include the Devon Wildlife Trust, Libraries Unlimited, South Gloucester Libraries and Villages in Action.
Devon
