Caroline Stewart
Caroline Stewart is a British puppeteer based in Berkshire. Her first memories of puppetry are of Pipkins and then the Muppet Show in the 1970s. She is a lifelong fan of the works of Jim Henson and the Muppets, shamelessly recycling bad gags and lines from the 70s Muppet Show. However, despite being heavily involved in musical theatre during her youth and teen years, life, career and family took precedence over theatrical pursuits. With the return of the Muppet Show to UK streaming, the first lockdowns and also recovering from surgery to rebuild a badly broken left wrist, Caroline finally decided in early 2021 it was time to really learn to do something in which she had only ever dabbled. Buying an inexpensive practice hand and rod puppet (the original “Baxter”, now known as Baby Baxter or BB) and completing the online syllabi of both Parker Puppetry under the expert tutelage of Jess Parker-Hewitt and Mike Quinn’s Secrets Of Puppetry Academy, she has enthusiastically thrown herself into learning puppetry.
Caroline has focused on TV-style puppetry and, in particular, Lip Synch-style music video productions, definitely preferring to be “below the frame”. From the early videos, she has always tried to introduce at least one new element to each of her productions, from complex choreography designed and assisted by her partner, to multiple puppet elements, moving video backgrounds and other effects. Caroline quickly started adding professionally made puppets to build the cast for her videos.
She has puppets made by Andy Heath, Paul Jomain, Phil Fletcher, and others. These videos, including some of her earliest work, are showcased on her YouTube channel “Baxter & Friends” featuring the cast of Baxter, Grönk, Floop, Zooby, BB, Haggis, Wort, and FeeBee, performing everything from Eurovision hits and show tunes to rock classics. In 2022 Caroline also joined other puppeteers to collaborate with puppeteer Declan McCarthy of Fox Story Theatre on his short film, “Press Play” released in Nov ‘22.
Baxter & Friends YouTube channel can be found here.