Welcome to the Victorian Underground Project

Following on from the last collection, we have discovered a little more about Alfred Byrne and his puppet shows.

From a young age, Alfred had an incredible flair for creating puppets, costumes and stage designs. However, owed to the harsh living conditions he experienced in a small town in the northeast of England, with two absent alcoholic parents and a loving sister (who saved his life by raising him), money for resources wasn’t available.

Young Alfred had to improvise and thus he built things using scraps which he either stole or found or traded in return for menial chores. With no experience or formal education, he would spend week after week in the town square putting on performances. For a long time people would just walk on by or stop to patronise him. Occasionally someone would toss him a coin or a piece of food.

This didn’t discourage Alfred as he knew that all of it was merely practice and experimentation until he’d mastered the art of the puppet.

After several years of perseverance, people began to slow down at his makeshift theatre and stick around. Alfred had perfected every aspect of puppet shows including the most important: storytelling.

There are many accounts of how Alfred progressed to being one of the greatest puppeteers of his generation. However, when he began to deal with more controversial themes which brutally assaulted the status quo, he was pushed further down to the underground.

Fortunately Alfred had gathered a loyal following and so he refused to compromise. In fact for anyone who admires the forgotten rebels of history, Alfred is a patron Saint.

Here at the Fellowship we often uncover some amazing people and wonder what it’d be like if a film or documentary was made about them. We sincerely hope that someday, a stop motion animation is made about Alfred Byrne and his puppet shows. We truly believe that it’d be worth somebody’s time and resources.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

TVUP