It’s today… did you feel the earth move? Hmmm… neither did I. It’s worth reading Michael Mescheke’s international message for World puppetry Day, though: And all around us, this powerlessness is the true strength of the puppet. Because it is part of that “in spite of everything”, without which human beings would have perished long ago. (via Unima Australia, the blog I run for UA)
puppetry
Anne Frank: Within and Without
In January the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta put on a puppet production called Anne Frank: Within and Without that looks as if it would have been amazing. An article in the New York Times, describes how the writer and director, Bobby Box
“tackles his subject by having two actresses manipulate the doll-like puppets, which look like pose-able mannequins. The actresses, pin-curled and identically costumed in prim knee-length gray wool skirts, white blouses, gray cardigans and Mary Janes, are both introduced to the audience as Anne. Sometimes they seem to be personifications of Anne’s memory or different aspects of her personality. Sometimes they seem like ghostly grown-up versions of an Anne Frank who has been allowed, in death, to age and return to tell her story.
The two performers move the puppets in and around a giant cutaway dollhouse, an exact replica of the annex rooms where Anne and her family hid. Watching grown women play with dolls this way turns out to be surprisingly macabre.
There are examples of the tender-turned-terrible throughout the show, including a cradle that later becomes the cattle car carrying the residents of the annex to their deaths.”
There is also a great slide show of some of the scenes, and puppets in action, linked in the sidebar of the NYT article.
In other accounts the production is described as ‘a celebration of life love and faith’ and ‘a meditation on hope and all that is good in human kind’.
Here are some other links:
JTOnline: Puppets tell Tragic Girl’s Story
SouthernVoice Online: Adult puppet show with two gay principals
aligns Holocaust experience with religious and political extremism that
still exists today.
Bobby Box’s photos in Amsterdam for set design
Productions in the works: notes on the production as it progresses
Access Atlanta: Ann Frank’s hope inspires puppet show (3 pics)
Updated links 2015
Searls Puppetry
Searls Puppetry looks as if they do cool productions. They specialize in object theatre, and have just been recognized by the Jim Henson Foundation with a grant in support of their newest production: OM: objects in motion coming in the northern summer. Collete Searls is a stage director who specializes in puppetry for adult audiences.
Updated links 2015
Plasticine model
Sally was interested in the plasticine model I made of the fruitbat, so I have added this photo to the set. You can click to see it enlarged in different sizes. The yellow pins mark the performer’s eyes, and the black spot on the leg, their feet.
Meanwhile, Amy has given me Best Flying Rodent in an Insupportable Role – lol! Thanks, Amy.
Jasper Morello on SBS this Friday!
The Gothia Gazette is reporting that The Mysterious Geographic Adventures of Jasper Morello, nominated for Best Animated Sort in the Academy Awards, will be screening on SBS on this Friday 10th March at 8.00pm. The DVD of Jasper Morello, including a ‘making of’ featurette and other award winning films by director Anthony Lucas will be in shops on March 15th. Don’t miss it!
AVENUE Q One Night Stand Competition
It seems like you can still cast a vote in the AVENUE Q One Night Stand competition, but be quick! Three puppets have been chosen to go to see AVENUE Q on Broadway and meet the cast backstage after the show, but one winner and their puppet will have the once in a lifetime opportunity to step onstage at the Golden Theatre on Broadway with the cast of AVENUE Q!
Watch the videos of the three competing puppets, and vote for which one you would like to see win. Will it be Kitty Swallows, Miss Greta Green, or Maurice Tipo (pictured with Andrew MacDonald-Smith, who designed Maurice along with Konja Chen (of Chensational Puppets) in Toronto in honor of Avenue Q.)
Updated links 2015
Fruit Batman
Making this huge Fruit Batman character for The Fool Factory has been the thing keeping me so busy last month. The wingspan is 6-7 metres, and it is a stilt-walking character. The wings are articulated, and it has animatronic eyes and ears, but it was my brief to build the creature around those supplied elements. He is now in Adelaide, doing some performances in the streets during the Fringe Festival.
I’ve made a set of photos that show some of the making process. And there are some more stills and a couple of quicktimes on the Fool Factory’s new site. I was particularly happy with the head:
all-mother
There are only 3 days left to catch all-mother, a play presented by barb barnett‘s serious theatre and eRTH Visual and Physical at the Street Theatre in Canberra. I’m seeing the last performance, and looking forward to it.
“all-mother combines rigging and harness technology with puppetry, movement and music to re-imagine and re-tell the Lilith myth. Though hundreds of years old, the story provides unexpected insights into modern issues of human rights, gender, sexuality and the abuse of power.”
In an article in The Canberra Review barb talks about some of the issues she is exploring in the piece.
‘Springing from the question who is the puppeteer and who is the puppet, Barnett says she wanted to examine issues surrounding control. “Lilith stood up for herself – she was a powerful, strong woman,” Barnett said. “I really wanted to examine what happens when you say no and what does it mean to say no? What punishment is there for standing up for yourself?”’
Barb gave a wonderful performance as Lute in ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky (by Adam Hadley) in Catherine Langman’s production Six Pack last year. The evening featured six short works commissioned by The Street Theatre and based around the theme of love, and was the most enjoyable night’s theatre. The other performance that really struck me was that of Aiden Emanuel, the young mechanic in Carburettor (by Christos Tsiolkas).
Updated links 2015
Shaun Tan’s website and Aquasapiens
Shaun Tan now has his own website. It looks relatively new. It’s great to see a number of illustrations under each picture book listing, and read his thoughtful and friendly commentary. I was also delighted to see some images from the puppetry-based theatre production of The Red Tree, which was produced as part of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s ‘Out of the Box’ festival for children in 2004. I had heard about this wonderful fish puppet on the grapevine. There are also some in-theatre pictures of some of our puppets for Jigsaw Theatre’s production of The Lost Thing.
One project that was unknown to me before, is Aquasapiens. Tan was commissioned by Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in Fremantle, WA, to design large-scale puppets for a street theatre event as part of the 2005 Perth International Arts Festival. The director was Philip Mitchell, the puppet maker Jiri Zmitko and sound designer/composer Lee Buddle. These creatures are fabulous! Here are drawings of the Yellow Naut‘ and ‘Shrimpy’. I also love this.
Aquasapiens is going to be part of the Adelaide Fringe in February and March, and is available to perform at schools from February 27 to March 10.
Apparently Spare Parts will also be adapting another of Tan’s books, The Arrival, which is about migration and is due to be published in April.
updated links 2015
