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A classic New Yorkstyle Reuben sandwich. Chicken thigh, with lemon and basil, wrapped in bacon in a tomato sauce, on parmesan and rosemary polenta, with a spring salad. Cookies and Cream

‘‘It’s been extremely helpful having her on board. She got everyone working with puppets – made from paper at first.

‘‘It’s one thing to get actors to act, it’s another thing to get puppets to do the same.’’

Platenkamp says teaching the Blenheim cast reminded her of her early days starting out in puppeteering.

‘‘Puppets just fell in my lap really,’’ says Platenkamp. ‘‘At first I had to learn how to use the puppet in the right way … I thought it was going to be easy, but I didn’t realise how extremely hard it was.

‘‘You have to get the breathing right for the puppet, and the walking. I think as a human you don’t realise how you use your body. It just comes naturally. But when you have a puppet you have to do all those things that you intuitively do with a puppet.’’

But Platenkamp, who plays the character Kate Monster, says seeing the puppets come to life has been magical.

‘‘Every day you can see your own development. That’s the pretty cool thing with puppets.

‘‘Because over time, the more you work with them, the more they become human. So you’re training for months and months, and all of a sudden you can be laughing at the puppet. You can almost believe it yourself that the puppet has a soul. And moments like that can be really inspiring.’’

Platenkamp says she wanted to work with Avenue Q back home, but they could not retain the rights in the Netherlands. She feels lucky to able to work on it here in Marlborough, she says.

‘‘There’s something for everyone. One puppet is gay, but doesn’t dare to come out of the closet. One puppet can’t find his purpose, and I play Kate, who wants to find herself a boyfriend. It’s all regular adult problems, played out by puppets. A lot of people who will come to the show will recognise that.’’

Working in theatre both here and in the Netherlands, has been an eye-opener. Platenkamp says she is amazed by the community spirit here in Marlborough.

‘‘I’ve done productions back home, and I’ve basically had to do it all myself. But what I like about Marlborough is that everyone chips in and helps. What I find cool here in Blenheim is that there are so many volunteers. You do this production and everyone is willing to help out. And I think that’s such an awesome thing. We work a lot and no-one moans about that.’’