Quinn's Abyss is a brand new dramatic monologue by Katherine Hampton, styled after Dante’s Inferno, with a series of live performances scheduled at Roman Eagle Lodge as part of the Edinburgh Festival this month. Quinn must navigate through the different realms of depression, encountering lost souls and numerous obstacles along the way, clinging to a glimmer of hope that she will one day find her way out of the chasm dark.



Katherine asked me to create an atmospheric shadow-puppet film to accompany her monologue. Shadow puppetry was a natural choice, referencing the shadow self and the enigmatic play of light and dark of the human psyche. Shadow-puppets are also a refreshing antidote to the unnatural perfection of digital and AI animation, evocative of nostalgia and past times, full of quirky human handmade imperfection, which reinforces the message of the play: we must learn to love ourselves despite all our imperfections.



Quinn’s Abyss features an array of characters, both human and non-human. A winged dragon appears three times, challenging Quinn with a soul-searching question that ultimately helps her escape the abyss. For puppets such as the dragon and other main characters, I create complex articulated shadow-puppets with hinged limbs.




Quinn also encounters many other lost human souls on her journey. For groups of people, I cut out one silhouette that incorporates a number of individuals, often moving the light source or the puppet to convey movement, sometimes flapping it to and fro to imply violence or chaos.

I begin by sketching out the shapes of the puppet onto 300 gsm card - the drawings are swift and freehand to suggest movement even within each piece of a composite puppet. My materials consist of a fully sustainable range of card, paper and tissue paper to achieve a range of lighting effects, from pure silhouette to translucent elements. I often use the tiniest leftover scraps to add details to a figure. I cut out the figures with a range of tools, including scissors or a Swann-Morton surgical scalpel for fine detail, organic forms and natural curves, and pattern shears to add intricate rhythmic detail of curly hair and other textures.

I use a stapler to hinge limbs, hands, necks, heads, feet, wings and other appendages, always checking that the movement looks convincing. Expressive character is far more important than perfection in shadow puppetry.

Bicycle spokes attached to the limbs via loose hinges of masking tape act as rods, allowing me to animate the puppet in real-time. The bicycle spokes are endlessly reusable. I adapt a heavy duty racking unit to make a shadow-theatre, adding a simple diffusion screen and lighting where needed. A strategically angled mirror helps me to see what the camera can see on the other side of the screen. Hand-held torches create an illusion of movement even when the actual puppets are static, as for example in the case of these water ripples.

Sometimes I hinge multiple puppets together so that animating one causes the other to move, such as in this example of Quinn being pulled out of the sinking sand. The process involves a great deal of trial and error. 

After filming each scene or character, I edit the resulting raw footage into a film, often layering multiple clips one on top of another to evoke the narrative.

It’s a great honour to be creating this piece for the world famous festival of my university city of Edinburgh where I graduated with a first class Honours in Arabic twenty years ago this summer. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief behind the scenes glimpse of shadow puppets in action. Don’t forget to book your tickets for Quinn’s Abyss. 

Many thanks for watching.

Reviews:

21st August 2026: Review of Quinn's Abyss for the Edinburgh Fringe

"The visuals, created by Lois Cordelia, are bewitching. There’s a genuinely stunning artistry to the way the shadow puppets have been created, how they move, and how a sense of life, perspective and pathos has been created throughout the film. The film is subtle, tactile and gently engrossing."

17th August 2026: Review of Quinn's Abyss for the Edinburgh Fringe

"A woman’s journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance is laid bare through gorgeous silhouette projections in this ambitiously creative piece. ... The silhouette projections, prerecorded and projected over Quinn Hampton’s narration, are striking and stark, methodically put together and layered for maximum effect, especially in scenes of violent despair. Indeed, in a production which risks becoming static, with Quinn Hampton standing to the side for the entire show, it is the vibrancy of the on-screen material which keeps the play’s momentum moving."