What Handspring Puppet Company does

Handspring Puppet Company is a privately held, Cape Town-based contemporary puppetry company founded in 1981 by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones. It designs, constructs, and tours life-size and large-scale rod, string, and Bunraku-inspired puppets for theatrical productions, having performed in 295 cities across 30 countries over four decades. Core technical innovations include a pioneering breath-animation technique and construction methods using cane, steel, leather, aircraft bicycle cables, and carbon fiber, with embedded micro-computer eye mechanisms on flagship pieces such as Little Amal.

The company's core products are original theatrical productions — most prominently War Horse (commissioned by the National Theatre London in 2006, with 8.3 million cumulative audience members and 25+ major awards), Little Amal (a 12-foot Syrian refugee puppet that has travelled to 166+ towns in 17 countries), Life & Times of Michael K, and the 2025 revival of Faustus in Africa! with William Kentridge. Revenue is generated through a mix of co-production and commissioning fees from institutional partners, touring box-office participation, and worldwide representation managed exclusively by Paris-based Quaternaire. Customers are predominantly elite institutional theatres and festivals (National Theatre London, Edinburgh International Festival, Kennedy Center, Kunstenfestivaldesarts Brussels, Théâtre de la Ville, Kunstfest Weimar, Centre d'art Battat Montreal, Baxter Theatre Cape Town).

The go-to-market is event-driven and partnership-led: new works are developed through multi-institution co-productions before international tours, with a parallel community-led model anchored in an annual Barrydale, South Africa puppet parade (since 2010) that seeded the Little Amal concept. The company operates without external funding rounds, acquisitions, or parent-company ownership, retaining founder-led independence across more than 16 productions since 1986.

Name

Handspring Puppet Company

Legal name

Handspring Puppet Company

Website

https://handspringpuppet.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Handspring Puppet Company is a Cape Town-based puppetry studio, founded in 1981 by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones, that designs and tours life-size contemporary puppet productions for elite international theatres, festivals, and public art initiatives across 30 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Performing Arts — Puppet Theatre Productions

NAICS

Performing Arts Companies (7111), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190)

SIC

Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819)

akta.pro primary industry

Puppetry & Marionette Theatre (MPAGABAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Theatre Services & Design (Scenic/Costume/Props/Stage Management) (MPAGABAO)

Keywords

• Contemporary puppet theatre
• Live theatrical productions
• Co-production theatre services
• Large-scale puppet making
• International arts touring

Headquarters

HQ city

Cape Town

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Theatrical Performance Revenue: Handspring Puppet Company generates revenue primarily through live theatrical performances. Productions are developed collaboratively with major theatres and festivals (co-productions), and generate ticket revenue through touring performances at venues across the UK, Europe, South Africa, and internationally. Major productions include War Horse (UK & Ireland 2024–2025 tour), Faustus in Africa! (2025: Cape Town, Brussels, Hamburg, Edinburgh), and Life & Times of Michael K (2025).
2. Co-Production and Commissioning Fees: The company enters into co-production arrangements with major international theatres and festivals, including the National Theatre London, Edinburgh International Festival, Kennedy Center, Battat Montreal, and others. These co-productions provide production funding in exchange for performance rights and creative involvement.
3. Worldwide Representation (Excluding South Africa): Quaternaire serves as the exclusive worldwide representation agent for Handspring Puppet Company (excluding South Africa), managing booking, touring, and engagement logistics for international venues and festivals.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Handspring Puppet Company designs, builds, and performs contemporary puppet theatre productions featuring life-size animal and human puppets (including rod, string, and Bunraku-inspired techniques). It develops and co-produces shows with major international theatres and festivals, then tours them globally — with acting and management handled internally and worldwide representation (outside South Africa) provided by Quaternaire. The business is built on a portfolio of original productions (e.g., War Horse, Life & Times of Michael K, The Walk/Little Amal, Faustus in Africa!) delivered to cultural institutions and public audiences.

Product overview

Handspring Puppet Company is a single unified offering centred on professional puppet theatre productions. The company has created over 16 theatre productions since 1986, with the core products being live puppet theatre performances featuring innovative puppetry techniques. Key productions include War Horse (featuring life-size horse puppets built from cane, steel, leather and aircraft bicycle cables), Life & Times of Michael K, The Walk (Little Amal), and Faustus in Africa!. The company also publishes a book documenting their craft and philosophy. All productions share a common thread of combining physical puppet manipulation with theatrical innovation, often incorporating animation, music, and cinematic elements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• War Horse National Theatre production featuring nine life-size horse puppets built from cane, steel, leather and aircraft bicycle cables. Set during WWI, it tells the story of Joey the horse and his owner Albert. The most successful play in National Theatre history, winning over 25 awards and seen by over 8.3 million people.
• Life & Times of Michael K Adaptation of JM Coetzee's Nobel Prize-winning novel combining performance, cinematic imagery and music. Follows Michael K's journey through war-torn South Africa to return his mother to her ancestral home. Received a 5-star review from The Reviews Hub.
• The Walk (Little Amal) Global puppet project featuring a 12-foot (3.5-metre) puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child (carbon fiber construction with micro-computer-controlled eyes). A series of outdoor performances and festivals of art and hope drawing attention to children fleeing war and persecution.
• Faustus in Africa! Adaptation of the Faust legend transposed to Africa, exploring themes of compromise and the archetypal greedy colonialist. A collaboration between Handspring Puppet Company and William Kentridge, with 2025 performances in Cape Town, Brussels, Hamburg, and Edinburgh.
• Il Ritorno d'Ulisse (The Return of Ulysses) William Kentridge's version of Monteverdi's opera featuring Handspring's puppets and Kentridge's animations, blurring boundaries between human reality and artifice.
• Tall Horse Multi-media production based on the true story of a giraffe gifted to the King of France in 1826, exploring cultural exchange between Africa and Europe. Commissioned by the Kennedy Center.
• Confessions of Zeno Collaboration with William Kentridge, Kevin Volans and Jane Taylor exploring the worlds of work and erotic pleasure of the European bourgeoisie before WWI.
• Ubu and the Truth Commission Production combining puppetry, live actors, music, animation and documentary footage based on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.
• Woyzeck on the Highveld William Kentridge's adaptation of Georg Buchner's play, set in 1950s Johannesburg. Combines rod-manipulated puppets with animated film.
• The Chimp Project Production about Lisa, a sexually aware adolescent chimp trained in sign language, exploring themes of rehabilitation and return to the wild.
• Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare's romantic comedy re-visioned with Bambara and Bozo traditions and Japanese Bunraku conventions, challenging divisions between theatre and other art forms.
• Episodes of an Easter Rising String puppet version dealing with political themes in apartheid South Africa, featuring two White lesbian lovers encountering a Black freedom fighter.
• Handspring Puppet Company Book The first book published in South Africa on Handspring Puppet Company, exploring their work from Episodes of an Easter Rising to War Horse, with insights into their philosophy of puppetry and technical innovations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 8.3 million people have seen War Horse live, making it the most successful play in National Theatre history.
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• QuaternairecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorQuaternaire is the exclusive worldwide representation agent for Handspring Puppet Company, excluding South Africa. Based in Paris, Quaternaire manages all international bookings, touring arrangements, and venue/festival relationships for Handspring's productions globally.
• William KentridgecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWilliam Kentridge is a visionary director and collaborator who has worked with Handspring on multiple major productions including Confessions of Zeno, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, Ubu and the Truth Commission, Woyzeck on the Highveld, and Faustus in Africa!. Kentridge provides direction, animation, and design for these productions.
• The Baxter Theatre Centre, University of Cape TownmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of the 2025 revival of Faustus in Africa!, providing restaging support and venue facilities for the Cape Town season of the production.
• Centre d'art Battat (Montreal)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of the 2025 revival of Faustus in Africa!, contributing to the production funding and creative development of the revival.
• Kunstfest WeimarmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of the 2025 revival of Faustus in Africa!, supporting the German performance leg of the international tour.
• Kunstenfestivaldesarts BrusselsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of the 2025 revival of Faustus in Africa!, hosting the Brussels season of the production.
• Théâtre de la Ville / Festival d'Automne ParismajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of the 2025 revival of Faustus in Africa!, hosting the Paris season of the production.
• National Theatre LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned Handspring Puppet Company to create nine life-size horse puppets for War Horse in 2006. War Horse became the most successful play in the National Theatre's history with over 8.3 million audience members and 25+ awards. The National Theatre continues to tour War Horse.
• Net Vir Pret (Barrydale, South Africa)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerA local NGO in Barrydale, South Africa, that facilitates Handspring's annual puppet parade and outdoor performance since 2010. Net Vir Pret engages young people in animal studies, ecology, race, history, and theatre production, with many participants going on to university.
• The Walk / Little Amal (The Walk Organization)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHandspring created and operates the Little Amal puppet for The Walk organization. Little Amal is the 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child at the heart of The Walk's global art and human rights initiative. Since July 2021, Amal has travelled to over 166 towns and cities in 17 countries, welcomed by over 2 million people.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Cirque du Soleil: Cirque du Soleil is a global large-scale theatrical spectacle company — comparable to Handspring in delivering large-format, technically innovative live performances to global touring audiences, though broader in scale and commercial in business model.
• Schaubühne Berlin: Berlin's Schaubühne is a major producing theatre company known for visually arresting, politically engaged productions on its own stage and on international tour. Comparable as an institutional theatre producing work in the same festival circuit Handspring operates in.
• Robert Wilson: Robert Wilson is an avant-garde director whose large-scale, visually innovative theatre productions (with extensive use of movement, light, and image) are artistically adjacent to Handspring's blend of puppetry, animation, and theatrical innovation.
• Royal Shakespeare Company: The RSC is a major producing theatre company working at the highest level of British theatrical production. Comparable to Handspring's commissioning partners (National Theatre) as a major institutional theatre producer of large-scale, critically acclaimed productions.

Others

• Net Vir Pret: Net Vir Pret is Handspring's local Barrydale-based community NGO partner — relevant as an ecosystem peer in the community-engaged theatre space, and a direct operational partner rather than a competitor.

Direct peers

• Jim Henson's Creature Shop: Jim Henson's Creature Shop builds animatronic and puppet creatures for film, television, and stage productions — directly comparable to Handspring's work constructing life-size animal puppets and characters for major theatrical and media projects. Both are specialized puppet/fabrication houses serving large-scale productions.
• Manual Cinema: Chicago-based Manual Cinema combines handmade puppetry with live cinema and shadow performance — directly comparable to Handspring's integration of puppetry with live actors, animation, and projection. Both are boutique puppetry companies producing narrative theatrical works.
• Blind Summit Theatre: UK-based Blind Summit is a puppetry company known for its innovative puppet construction and contemporary theatrical work, including collaborations with major venues. Directly comparable as a specialist puppetry company working at the same artistic and technical level in the UK theatre ecosystem.
• Basil Twist: Basil Twist is a New York-based solo puppeteer renowned for large-scale, technically innovative puppetry productions (Symphonie Fantastique, Petrushka). Directly comparable to Handspring as a leading contemporary puppetry artist pushing the boundaries of the form.
• Told by an Idiot: UK physical-theatre company known for innovative actor-puppet hybrids and devised work. Comparable to Handspring as a smaller specialist theatre company operating in the intersection of physical performance, devised work, and unconventional theatrical forms.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/handspringcc
• Facebookfacebook.com/handspringpuppet
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/handspring-puppet-company

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Handspring Puppet Company