How a dad from Chesterfield has been entertaining thousands of families around the world during lockdown

Set, costume and puppet designer Sam Wilde, who grew up in the town, has proved to be a YouTube hit across the world thanks to his fantastic productions.

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During the first lockdown, Sam and director Ian Nicholson put together three puppet shows based on Jon Klassen’s Hat Trilogy.

Sam, 34, said: “The shows were made entirely out of things I found around the house – mostly cardboard – and, although I initially did them as something for my own kids and their nursery, they somewhat exploded.

“We were among the best shows of lockdown in publications like The Stage, the Guardian and the Metro.

“I was interviewed on the BBC and we featured in the New York Times and had over 300,000 views on YouTube.”

Since then, working with the English Touring Opera, the pair have created Chris Haughton’s Shh! We Have A Plan as an opera.

The production – again mostly made using cardboard – includes a ‘theatre’ based around Buxton Opera House.

“I went to Lady Manners School in Bakewell and did my work experience at Buxton Opera House when I was a teenager so it was the first and most obvious choice for me to recreate,” said Sam, who currently lives in Bristol.

“Ian and I are now working on four more of these cardboard shows.

“They are yet to be announced but are all recycled and recyclable.”

Sam, who has two children called Clementine and Juniper, will never forget how he entertained so many people during the pandemic.

He said: “I think it’s really easy for people to be dismissive of theatre and artists in general.

“I think I’d be the first to question what art brings to the table at times like these.

“In my family one of my sisters is a nurse, the other is a teacher and the third was shielding at the time, my brother is just very kind.

“I think I’ll always remember this as a time of great pain and heartache, of courage and of sacrifice – but also a time that I made 300,000 families happy with a cardboard box.

“I’ll always be proud of that.”

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