Meet Fred – Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton

Original Devising Cast: Lindsay Foster, Dan McGowan, Richard Newnham, Craig Quat, Morgan Thomas and Martin Vick

Director: Ben Pettitt-Wade

Hijinx Theatre is a professional theatre company that aims to be inclusive, producing and promoting opportunities for actors with learning disabilities and/or autism. Founded in 1981, it now produces plays and trains actors as well.

Ten years ago, Hijinx created the comedy Meet Fred to considerable acclaim; Fred, a two‑foot Bunraku puppet, has now been dusted off for a tenth‑anniversary tour.

We first meet Fred as he wakes in the morning, not entirely sure of who – or what – he is. In fact, Fred is a linen puppet operated by three puppeteers. Their skill quickly allows us to accept Fred as a character with his own personality and voice, despite his lack of clothes, a mouth, or even a face. Fred soon learns from “The Director” (Owen Pugh) that he is the star of a show that is his life, and it is down to him to choose his own destiny. But for a puppet, that’s not quite as easy as it sounds.

His first task is to find a job. As the Director explains, the theatre company cannot actually pay Fred, as that would interfere with his Puppetry Living Allowance (PLA), which he needs to pay his puppeteers—and where would he be without them? In a delightfully surreal – yet recognisable – sequence for anyone who has dealt with the JobCentre, Fred faces an impossible choice. He must accept one of the nonsensical or stereotypical jobs offered or face having his PLA cut and losing one of his puppeteers. The cynical might wonder whether the jobs were chosen to ensure Fred fails.

Another discussion with the Director leads Fred to try dating via Tinder—but that too ends badly. In fact, everything Fred attempts seems to go from bad to worse, and ultimately, his PLA is cut, leaving him without the use of his legs.

Eventually, Fred learns that in an uncaring – or worse, indifferent – society, the odds are stacked against him at every turn. He tries to come to terms with his life as it is. And being made of linen, he cannot even end it all by leaping from a high building.

A show with a puppet as its central character lives and dies by the quality of the puppetry, and in Meet Fred, that quality – developed in collaboration with BLind SumMiT Theatre – is superb. Nicholas Halliwell operates Fred’s head and arm while also giving him voice. Along with puppeteers Sam Harding and LLŷr Williams, Halliwell makes Fred an amiable, sympathetic, and believable character, even as he battles the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. We also clearly see Fred’s growing irritation and bafflement at a world set against him.

There is much to recognise – and to get angry about – in this modern‑day allegory. Those facing any kind of difficulties will readily identify with the obstacles placed in Fred’s path. The whole piece is delivered with self‑knowing humour and occasional metaphorical winks at the audience, and it is very entertaining. However, the central conceit is not quite strong enough to sustain a show of this length, and it begins to lose momentum towards the end; the scene in which Fred meets his maker, for example, feels somewhat unsatisfying.

Even so, Meet Fred sadly remains relevant and important ten years after its creation.

Runs until 3 March 2026 and on tour