Screen 01
The Fox Who Borrowed the Moon
A fox who cannot sleep takes the moon down to read by. The village has to ask for it back.
See the playLampblack, a travelling shadow theatre on a narrowboat
Lampblack is a shadow theatre on a narrowboat. At dusk we raise a linen screen on the roof, light the lamp, and play to the towpath. Move your pointer: it is the lamp.
Scroll to turn the screen
The company
A theatre that
folds into
a narrowboat
We are three people, one boat and a lamp. From October to December we work our way along the Kennet & Avon from Bath to Reading, tie up at a wharf, and raise a linen screen on the cabin roof as the light goes.
You sit on the towpath with a blanket. We sit on the roof behind the screen with seventy-two figures cut from card, a paraffin lamp in a glass chimney, and a harmonium wedged against the chimney stack. Every shadow you see is made by hand, in the moment, a few centimetres from the linen.
We did not invent any of this. Shadow puppetry is older than the canal by a thousand years or so: the wayang kulit of Java, Karagöz in Turkey and the leather shadow plays of China are all on UNESCO's lists of intangible heritage, and Lotte Reiniger cut The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), the oldest surviving animated feature, from card and lead with scissors. We just brought a lamp to the water.
- The boat
- 57ft
- The screen
- 3.6× 2 m
- The canal
- 87miles
- The light
- 1lamp
Lamp & distance
Distance is
our zoom lens
Pressed against the linen, a figure's shadow is exactly its own size, and sharp enough to show every punched hole.
Draw it back toward the flame and the shadow grows. Halfway to the lamp it is twice as big, and its edges begin to blur.
Near the lamp it looms, soft and enormous. No lens, no zoom: only geometry, and a steady hand on the rod.
- Figure to linen
- 2cm
- Shadow size
- 1.02×
- Soft edge
- 0.3mm
Lamp 120 cm behind the linen, flame about 2 cm wide. Size = 120 ÷ (120 − d). Blur = 2 cm × d ÷ (120 − d).
The workshop
Every figure
is cut by hand
Seventy-two figures across four plays, each drawn, cut, punched and jointed on the boat's table. Here is the fox, from pencil to rod.
-
01
Drawn
Every figure starts as a pencil line on card, drawn in profile and in pieces: body, head, tail, each limb its own shape.
-
02
Cut & punched
Cut with a scalpel, then punched: the lace of holes is what makes a black shape read as fur, feathers or a coat.
-
03
Jointed
Pieces are joined with brass split pins, left loose enough to swing. A fox has three pieces; a lamplighter has six.
-
04
On the rod
Thin rods of wire and bamboo are pinned to the body and head. From the towpath you can just see them. We like that.
The cast
Six of our
seventy-two figures
Open a card to meet the figure on its rods. Each one is live: move your pointer and it moves in the lamp.
Autumn–Winter 2026
Bath to Reading,
one wharf at a time
Seats on the towpath are free. Bring a blanket; we bring the cushions, and we ask you to reserve so we know how many.
| Date | Place | Where we tie up | Play | Lamps lit | Reserve |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 10 Oct | Bath | Sydney Gardens towpath | The Fox Who Borrowed the Moon | 18:30 | Reserve |
| Sun 11 Oct | Bath | Sydney Gardens towpath | The Heron King | 18:30 | Reserve |
| Fri 16 Oct | Bradford-on-Avon | The Wharf | The Fox Who Borrowed the Moon | 18:15 | Reserve |
| Sat 17 Oct | Bradford-on-Avon | The Wharf | Salt for the Lighthouse | 18:15 | Reserve |
| Fri 23 Oct | Devizes | The Wharf | The Heron King | 18:00 | Reserve |
| Sat 24 Oct | Devizes | Foot of Caen Hill locks | Salt for the Lighthouse | 18:00 | Reserve |
| Sat 31 Oct | Pewsey | Pewsey Wharf | The Ninth Lantern | 17:00 | Reserve |
| Sat 7 Nov | Hungerford | Canal Walk | The Fox Who Borrowed the Moon | 16:45 | Reserve |
| Sat 14 Nov | Newbury | Kennet Wharf | The Heron King | 16:45 | Reserve |
| Sat 21 Nov | Aldermaston | Aldermaston Wharf | Salt for the Lighthouse | 16:30 | Reserve |
| Sat 28 Nov | Reading | Blake's Lock | The Ninth Lantern | 16:30 | Reserve |
| Sat 12 Dec | Reading | Blake's Lock | The Ninth Lantern | 16:15 | Reserve |