Joe Peek
Joe Peek is a Puppeteer and Puppet Builder based in the Southeast of England. His fascination for puppetry began at the age of four after seeing a Punch and Judy show performed by fellow Guild member Chris Gasper. Since then, Joe has continued to peruse his passion for the art of puppetry as both a performer and a puppet maker.
Joe has been performing his own Punch and Judy show for over 15 years and has been privileged to perform all over the county and in some prestigious venues such as London’s Covent Garden, Glastonbury Festival, Southend Pier and at the Marlborough Puppet Festival celebrating 70 years of Pelham Puppets. In recent years, Joe’s focus has been to increase his profile as a puppet maker. During the 2020 lockdown, after all performance work was cancelled, he decided to officially form his puppet making business; “Show of Hands Puppets”.
Since then, he has been Lucky enough to provide puppets to theatre companies and individuals across the country and even has his own puppets working in Australia, America and Mexico. Joe has been hugely influenced by the works of Jim Henson and takes inspiration from The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and Sesame Street. when in the workshop. Recently, Joe worked alongside televisions iconic yellow bear; Sooty. Performing Sooty, Sweep and Soo in live performance every day in the 2022 summer season at the newly opened Sooty themed attraction in Devon called Sooty Land.
As a lifelong fan of Sooty, this was a dream come true. Joe continues to work alongside the yellow bear and is set to be puppeteering Sooty and Co in Panto for the 2023/24 season in Manchester. All Joes projects and puppets are shared on Instagram
He can also be found on his newly published website www.showofhandspuppets.com