What happens when you combine objects and operatics? Over a day of illustrated talks at the Barbican, practitioners from the puppetry and opera worlds shared their experiences and thoughts on why the two can be combined to powerful effect.

Critical Voices is a short programme starting in December that's designed to skill-up new critics to take on the burgeoning visual theatre scene, particularly puppetry. Find out more and how to apply.

Join Randy Ginsberg as he spends two highly strung weeks training to be a marionettist. "We played with short string marionettes to get us started, which hang from about shoulder height to the floor. Most of us felt like we were lugging around a broken body on strings."