BRISTOL mask company Vamos Theatre will open Pocklington Arts Centre’s 2014 programme of theatre with their Finding Joy show on January 28.

Joy is creative, funny, loves to dance and is losing her memory. Her grandson Danny is rebellious, fearless, bright and always landing in trouble.

When, out of the blue, Danny decides to become Joy’s carer, where will their unexpected and playful bond lead them in this comic, anarchic and heroic adventure by a company that uses full mask theatre, music and puppetry? The 7.30pm performance is suitable for 12 year olds and upwards.

Children’s theatre company Lempen Puppet Theatre will return to Pock on February 21 at 2.30pm, this time with The Fisherman And The Pearl, a show for age five and above.

McManus, an old fisherman from Fisherman’s Cove, has seen it all. When he was young, the fishing was good and the sea was teeming with life. Now he is old, sad and grumpy, he spends his days sitting on the rocks lamenting the good old days.

However, his granddaughter Jo has found something at the beach, a special pearl, so all may not be lost in a comic, tragic yet hopeful family show with puppetry, masks, storytelling and animation, made by Lempen in conjunction with the Marine Conservation Society.

Ubiquitous York playwright Mike Kenny has another show doing the rounds and this one is rubbish, or rather it is all about rubbish and recycling. Co-produced by ajtc and York Theatre Royal, Bin Men will visit Pocklington on March 29 at 2.30pm with its story of Don and Sam, two bin men with big dreams.

They want to save the world and have fun doing it as they can find a use for anything we throw away.

Likewise, Mike Kenny can make drama out of anything, and here he does so in a production full of music, movement, puppetry, recycling and reusing, targeted at five year olds and upwards by director Rosamunde Hutt.

Magic Carpet Theatre, John Marshall’s company from Hull, will present The Magic Circus, a show with illusions, circus skills and puppets for five to 11 year olds, on April 24. Scribbled Thought and Vertical Line Theatre’s surreal, touching 2013 Edinburgh Fringe hit Superhero Snail Boy will appeal to age nine and above in a scary/not scary journey through the dark on May 28.

Multi-Story Theatre’s Little Brother And Little Sister combines shadow-play with video, physicality and music in Grimm’s tale of a boy turning into a deer after drinking enchanted water in the dark forest on August 6. All three shows will start at 2.30pm.

Box office: 01759 301547 pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk