The Puppet Theatre Barge started as a touring company called Movingstage in 1978 specialising in marionette theatre. After several years of touring the UK and the world, the company acquired and converted a 72ft-long Thames lighter into a permanent puppet theatre. The stage was specially designed to put on shows using string marionettes, and the seating raked to ensure a good view from every seat. For the first few years, the company’s Puppet Theatre Barge was based in Camden Lock and toured the Grand Union Canal in the summer. In 1986, the Puppet Barge moved its winter base to Little Venice and each summer went up the River Thames, sometimes as far as Oxford.

Juliet trained and worked for many years with John Wright at the Little Angel Marionette Theatre (as it was then) before setting up the Movingstage Marionette Company in 1978. Gren trained as a lighting cameraman and photographed numerous documentaries, feature films and TV dramas before turning to puppets and helping set up Movingstage. You can buy "Like a Dead Bird Flying" here