Stephen Mottram graduated from the University of Surrey UK in 1979 with a degree in International Relations. He then became fascinated by Puppet Theatre and decided to retrain as a puppeteer.

Stephen worked for various marionette companies in the UK before receiving a Government Study Bursary in 1982 which allowed him to study mime and movement and spend time at the Hungarian State Puppet Theatre. His work over the last 35 years has been based on the relationship between electro-acoustic music and the movement-image. His best known performances are The Seed Carriers, The Seas Of Organillo, In Suspension and The Parachute, all of which have toured internationally.

Stephen also worked on films such as The Little Shop of Horrors, Tales from The Decameron and Strings.

As a specialist in the string puppet and innovator in the field of puppet movement, Stephen Mottram has been employed to conducting acting workshops for teachers and students of our Puppet Theatre.

Sebastian Kaiser

Sebastian Kaiser has been worked as a dramaturg, curator, teacher in Universities and art schools and an author of essays and film documentaries. From 2014 to 2019, he obtained the Lectureships at Nanjing University (China), Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), University of Music and Theatre Leipzig (Germany), Oslo National Academy of the Arts (Norway), and got the title of Visiting Scholar&Lectures at the Martin Segal Center, City University of New York (USA).

During 2008 to 2017, he worked as a Dramaturg at the theatre Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxem- burg-Platz (Berlin, Germany), creating more than 30 theatrical works with many artists, including: Kean (by Alexandre Dumas, 2008), To Moscow, To Moscow (by Anton Chekhov, 2010), its premiere in Moscow at Chekhov-Festival and guest performances in Vienna, Paris, Zagreb, Belgrade. Merchant of Berlin (by Walter Mehring, 2010), Lehrstück (by Berthold Brecht, 2010), The Gambler (by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 2011) and Landlady (by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 2013) etc.

In 2006 and 2010, he was appointed as Artistic Director of the International Media Art and Performance Festival “Balaklava – Odyssey” which took place in former military objects in Balaklava and Sevastopol (Crimea). In 2019, he made conceptional and dramaturgical cooperation with Chen Minghao staging of the play From Morn to Midnight written by Georg Kaiser in a huge convention centre in Wuzhen, China. In 2018, he joined the theatre production Teahouse (written by Lao She, directed by Meng Jinghui) as a Dramaturge. The premiere of the play was in Wuzhen, China.

Sebastian Kaiser was employed as a foreign expert since Mar. 2020, teaching professional courses on Dramaturgy and Theatre Application at the Department of Theatre Literature .