LEARNING THE ROPES AT A CITY PUPPET SCHOOL - Puppets win prizes! An award- winning drama group has clinched a financial boost to train with a top puppetry school. Fusion Theatre and Arts Productions has won a cash boost of £3,000 from Arts Council England to train with the London School of Puppetry in the autumn.

Co-founder and director Emma Nicholson has already produced various projects and theatre pieces which involve puppetry, including her next production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

She said: "I never really thought of puppetry as an actual art form until about three or four years ago, but watching companies such as Tell Tale Hearts and Faulty Optic, it absolutely fascinates me.

"It takes real skill and can be used in a variety of ways.

"We mainly use puppetry on a large scale to portray larger-than-life characters, storybook characters and monsters as part of a bigger production.

"But, during my training, I will be working on a small-scale basis, creating work in a more intimate environment using just the puppets."

Emma had to work with the school for a day while they put together a show, which she helped host.

She had the privilege of working with international artists from as far afield as Italy and Japan.

She said: "You have to be quite an experienced professional puppeteer to gain a place on the course and I was really nervous, but they were impressed with my work on the day and all the work I had done in Grimsby and I was offered a place the same day."

Emma will begin training in mid September through to November, leaving partner Scott to hold the fort at Fusion.

She will also perform in London with the school's own company - Wax Baby Productions - in March 2007, following her training.

The Grimsby Evening Telegraph