About Us

Leonie Dodd and Tinka Slavicek have performed and run many workshops and creative projects within educational settings and have full enhanced CRB checks.

Leonie Dodd is an actor, puppeteer and arts education practitioner and project manager. Having graduated with a BSc in Psychology from Manchester University Leonie went on to train as an actor at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. More recently Leonie completed an MA in Applied Drama; Theatre in Educational, Community and Social Contexts at Goldsmith's College. Leonie trained in puppetry at The Central School of Speech and Drama and with The Little Angel Theatre. As an actor she has worked in film, television, theatre and radio. Credits include productions for Kneehigh, The Northern Stage Ensemble, NT Education, Warwick Arts Centre, Birmingham Rep., BAC, The Wolsey Theatre, Polka Theatre, Theatre Alibi and BBC television and radio. Leonie regularly devises and leads drama workshops for theatre education departments including The National, The Unicorn, Polka and Discover. In addition she has written and facilitated education workshops for Creative Partnerships, Blind Summit, BAC, The British Museum, The Zoological Society London, The City of London Sinfonia and Islington and Merton Borough Councils. Leonie also worked as a Creative Agent for A New Direction, managing and overseeing the Creative Partnerships Programme in schools across London. Leonie currently works as an Arts Mark Assessor for The Arts Council monitoring and evaluating Arts Mark applications from schools and other education establishments.

Tinka (Tratincica) Slavicek is a puppeteer, puppet-maker and workshop leader. She has a Diploma in Pre-school Education from The Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, Croatia and worked for a number of years in pre-schools as leader of artistic activities. Tinka trained in puppetry with Vlasta Pokrivka whilst being a member of Kvak Puppet Theatre, Zagreb. She also trained in Prague with Mirek Trejtnar and in the UK at The Little Angel Theatre. She has created a number of her own puppet-shows and has toured the UK and abroad. Most recently, as co-artistic director of Clogless Lobster, she has had great success with their production Key in the Sea. In addition, she collaborates with several other puppet companies including Teatrum Elasticum, No Nonsense Theatre and Tigar Teatar. Tinka has facilitated many puppet making and performance education projects for The Little Angel Theatre and Discover. She has also contributed to two books – Making Stuff and Making Stuff For Kids – The Guardian and Black Dog Publishing.

Associate Artists

Here are some of the other Puppetellers who work and perform with us

Ida Marie Tjalve is a puppeteer and puppet maker. Ida helped to devise Videk’s Shirt. Together with Tinka she is co-artistic director of Clogless Lobster. Ida has also toured with The Little Angel production of The Mouse Queen performing at The Unicorn, Hampstead Theatre and The New Victory Theatre, New York.

Janko Calic is a musician and helped us with the music for Videk’s Shirt. He joins The Puppetellers for theatre and festival performances.