Avid puppet-lovers will know that the outrageously funny Tony-Award winning musical Avenue Q is coming to The Grand this July! But it seems like Blackpool has caught puppet-fever, with The Grundy Art Gallery’s very own exhibition all about these strange and wonderful characters.

Anyone who is familiar with Avenue Q will know that puppets give us the opportunity to express our curiosities and, sometimes, our deepest darkest thoughts. Like the Spitting Image characters or ventriloquist dummies, puppets can create anarchy and satire, saying the things we humans sometimes really want to.

The Puppet Show exhibition at The Grundy is on until 31 May and features contributions from a range of national and international artists. The transformation of the art gallery into a ‘puppet state’  is designed to upset the norm, drawing out their unique capacity to act as impersonators, imposters and dubious characters!

Puppet Show was originally conceived at Eastside Projects, Birmingham in 2013 and is curated by artists Tom Bloor and Celine Condorelli. It is now being re-staged at the Grundy Art Gallery, building on the long association between puppetry and Blackpool. More information on the Puppet Show exhibition at The Grundy Art Gallery can be found here.

And if you’re in the mood for a good time with the guys from Avenue Q, don’t forget to get your tickets for the show which will be at The Grand from Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 July 2014.

More information can be found on the show page, but to get in you in the mood, why not read this insightful article by Lucie-Mae Sumner on working with the Avenue Q puppets!