Who we are
Wayward Objects is a puppet theatre company making performances, installations and visual work from found and discarded materials. Everyday objects are taken apart, reworked and brought to life as curious creatures and moving forms with intentions of their own.
The work explores environmental themes through humour, care and hands-on making. Every show ends with a chance to meet the puppets up close, and many include making and play sessions, so audiences leave with their own ideas about what rubbish might become.
How we started
Wayward Objects is led by sculptor and puppet-maker Michelle Reader, who has been turning recycled materials into characters, creatures and sculptural worlds for almost three decades. Her practice combines inventive construction methods with storytelling and movement across sculpture and contemporary visual theatre, and she has made work for venues and companies including Wild Rumpus, the National Space Centre and Bamboozle Theatre Company. In 2025 a Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England gave her a year to focus on puppetry, including a masterclass with Merlin Puppet Theatre in Berlin and new ways of building puppets from litter pickers, chip forks, spoons and plastic milk bottles. Wayward Objects grew out of that year, and its projects are made collaboratively with artists, makers, performers and thinkers from a range of disciplines.
How we work
Each project brings together a different group of collaborators (musicians, dancers, writers and makers) who shape the form, materials and performance language of the work. Current collaborators are musician and songwriter Steno Vitale, and dance artist and early years specialist Miriam Keye.
Our shows are visual, musical and often non-verbal, so they work for mixed-age audiences and for people who speak little or no English. Wading and Wandering is sensory-friendly and uses Makaton signs in its songs.
Contact us
Interested in working with us, as a programmer, partner or fellow artist? We’d love to hear from you.