The Young People’s Puppet Theatre is an arts education charity that helps young people exceed their own expectations through puppetry.

10 years
155 productions
4,120 puppets made
4,483 young people involved

Our history

The YPPT was founded in 2014 by Jeremy and Caitlin Duschenes, who are third- and fourth-generation amateur puppeteers respectively, with over 100 years of puppetry history in their family. From Hamburg to Geneva to Montreal and now the UK, four generations of Duschenes have created spectacular shows. The YPPT was created to bring this extraordinary art form and its impact to more children and young people than the Duschenes family could reach on its own.

Read our history

Our team

  • Jeremy Duschenes

    Executive Director

  • Caitlin Duschenes

    Associate Director

  • Janet Hyde

    Administrator

  • Holly Williams

    Project Leader

  • Jacqui Golding

    Project Leader

  • Louise Lahive

    Project Leader

  • Maria Kukhareva

    Project Leader

  • Rebecca Timmis

    Project Leader

Our trustees

  • Andy Cooper

    Chair of Trustees

  • Beverley Koranteng-Aitkins

    Trustee

  • Caroline Piggott

    Trustee

  • Michelle Green

    Trustee

  • Nisha Allen

    Trustee

  • Rosemary Mathews

    Trustee

Our Future

We currently work with 600–800 children and young people each year.

Over the next few years, we aim to scale this up to sustainably reach 1,000 children each year, and to set in place the procedures and infrastructure that will enable us to grow further beyond this. This will include training new project leaders, recruiting more volunteers and hiring more support staff as well as refining behind-the-scenes processes.

Donate to our future

Awards and certifications