The longevity of any theatre company is dependent on two essential ingredients: continued artistic inspiration backed up by firm and flexible funding. When I was asked to contribute a piece to this issue of the Africa Theatre Series, I offered something on the financing of Handspring because this has been such a necessary aspect of our small company's enduring success.

Puppetry is a rather eccentric career choice and we never expected to make money as such. Indeed we were often surprised when we did. What you will find below is a brief account of the changing ways in which Handspring has made a living over 25 years.

Handspring Puppet Company was started by four fine arts graduates, Adrian Kohler, Jon Weinberg, Jill Joubert and Basil Jones. We knew nothing about acting and very little about theatre. Each of us had left art school somewhat unprepared for the real world and had already spent three years immersed in the realities of earning a living in the arts. Each of us had found jobs, but none felt seriously committed to what we were doing. Three of us had moved away from Cape Town, but by chance we all returned there in December 1979. We met, swapped stories and began to exchange ideas on working together to form a puppet company. Adrian Kohler had in fact been involved with puppets since childhood and since leaving art school, had first worked at the Puppet Space, at the famous Space Theatre in Cape Town.