Hopeful Monster is an ensemble of three women working collaboratively to create playful visual theatre inspired by the natural world and informed by science. In evolutionary theory, a ‘hopeful monster’ is what you get when a sudden genetic mutation produces a radically new organism. Like its namesake, the company aims to create work that is weird and wonderful, playing with the possibilities of puppetry and delighting in the unusual visual creations that emerge.
The company formed in 2017 after training at the Curious School of Puppetry and The Puppet Barge and is now based across the UK (Glasgow, London and North Devon).
Who we are
Eti Meacock
North Devon-based maker and rewilder, exploring and sharing her combined love of creativity and the natural world through art and puppetry.
Ella Mackay
Puppeteer, maker, and lover of hands based in Glasgow, preoccupied with emotive movement.
Bori Mezo
London-based Hungarian puppeteer and maker with a passion for playing and a deep belief in the power of visual storytelling.
Our Projects
Hopeful Monsters
Hopeful Monsters is a piece of visual tabletop theatre: our debut show. From simple organisms to giant beasts, this is a story of evolution told entirely with hands.
Combining an original soundtrack and puppetry Hopeful Monsters is a playful exploration of all living things being made of the same fundamental building blocks. Constantly shifting and changing, human hands move and morph in unusual ways, creating unexpected creatures as we journey through water, earth and air. It’s a story of survival and struggle, of connection and transformation. A reminder of the playfulness of living. After all, we humans are animals too.
“Hopeful Monster brings to life a surrealist fauna of creatures. A poetic, innovative and incredibly bright show” Puppet Animation Scotland
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 “Intoxicating, beautiful and wonderfully funny, this puppet performance uses only hands to depict our amazing human connection with nature.” Everything Theatre
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 “Elegantly low-fi” “Extremely inventive” “Ingenious.” The Stage
Developed with support from Creative Scotland, Moving Parts Scratch Space, Cumbernauld Theatre at Lanternhouse, Curious School of Puppetry and Outside Eyes at Tron Theatre Glasgow
Six Long Legs
(In development)
Six Long Legs is a Visual Theatre performance for all the family featuring dressing up, puppetry and playful anarchy.
What are invertebrate survival skills? How do flies perceive time? Why do bees dance?
Armed with their imaginations and everyday objects, 3 humans crawl inside insect skins, limbs and sensory things in the hope of better understanding some of the smallest, strangest and most important creatures we share our planet with.
Offbeat and visually striking, with vivid colours and transformative reuse of objects, it is an intriguing study of insect biology told through playful skits.
Audience feedback:
“‘”Funny, moving, ingenious”
“I was smiling and laughing the whole way through”
“Incredible and imaginative.”
“I could see young people getting really excited to try at home what they’ve seen onstage with the everyday items.”
“Use of props was extraordinary and really imaginative.”
Supported in more then one ways by Arts Council England, Beaford Arts, Devon Wildlife Trust and Buglife
The Tale of the Edith’s Checkerspot: Butterflies Caught in an Evolutionary Trap
This video was a collaboration between Hopeful Monster, George Glover (puppeteer, concept) and Noah Baker (Nature video content creator)
In 2019, we received ABSW Award for Science Journalism, “Innovation of the Year” category. The jury highlighted:
“They used a novel form of illustration that made the understanding of this story effortless, it was gorgeous and stunning showing that art and science can truly merge.”
Dusk till Dawn
(In development)
A collaboration with lighting designer Topher Dagg.
Colour slowly fades from the world, and the moon bathes everything in blue. What inherits the world as we sleep?Unfamiliar shapes gather as the darkness draws in.
When finished, Dusk Till Dawn will be a small-scale, intimate performance where audiences will experience a dreamlike journey.
The first R&D phase took place January 2025 and the show was part of Manipulate Festival’s Open Studios events.
Supported by Manipulate Arts
