By: Jim Hutchins
The joy of Meet Fred is not simply that it aims to present a serious message using art and humour. It is that the puppet Fred is such an extraordinary messenger.
Audiences should be prepared to be thoroughly entertained while laughing at Fred’s bluntness and his humorous and unfiltered language, but also moved by how he faces his trials.
Meet Fred had huge success a decade ago and became a global hit, going on to perform in 145 cities in 20 countries.
Meet Fred’s 10th Anniversary Tour, brings Hijinx in association with BLind SumMIT here to The Drum at Theatre Royal Plymouth.
This is a black comedy where the leading actor is a two foot tall cloth puppet.
We witness an awakening as Fred realises the body he’s been ‘born’ into and what his limitations are.
The audience already understands that he’s a puppet and therefore totally dependent on his puppeteers to speak and move around.
I quickly find Fred believable and it is easy at times to forget his puppeteers, even though they are a crucial part of Fred.
As long as Fred has his support, he is charismatic, talented and witty.
He dances well. His Michael Jackson Moonwalk is slick and his robotic dancing is very watchable.
He even braves a foray into the audience at one point.
His encounters at the Job Centre are painfully recognisable. It is confusing and the rigid criteria of the system is unable to realistically help Fred find permanent employment suitable for a puppet. Fred now faces threats to have some or all of his support removed and the parallels between Fred and the realities faced by a disabled person are obvious and deeply frustrating.
Fred’s attempts at other normal things like dating or working as a children’s entertainer are comic, heartbreaking and equally unsuccessful. It’s enough to drive a puppet to Rock Bottom.
While training with puppets from BLind SumMIT, Hijinx’s neurodivergent artists and director Ben Pettitt-Wade wondered how difficult it would be for a puppet to live in the real world.
The play also evolved from a very real concern. Many of their learning disabled and autistic performers faced the threat of cuts to disability benefits. This wouldn’t just affect their livelihoods but potentially exclude these talented performers from their creative futures. A decade on, the threat of cuts is just as frightening and the message still needs to be shared widely.
Plymouth and several other venues on this tour are able to host a post show talk with Hijinx Theatre discussing Meet Fred, and also Extraordinary Bodies who present their new film, Take Up Space, a special collaboration between Diverse City and Cirque Bijou. These conversations add further depth to an already thought-provoking evening.
Meet Fred is at The Drum Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth with performances on the 23 and 24 February 2026.