puppetry

Godiva Awakes

Posted by hil

 

Godiva Awakes is one of several events involving puppetry that are planned as part of the Cultural Olympiad accompanying the London Olympics later this year. It is a project of Imagineer Productions, and will take place in Coventry on 28 -29 July, and then journey to London arriving 5 August to join in the Olympic celebrations.

The project abandons how most people remember the old legend of Lady Godiva: that she rode naked on horseback through town wearing nothing but her long hair, in a deal to stop harsh taxes on villagers. Instead, this contemporary interpretation features a 10-metre high puppet of Godiva with short hair and fine robes, riding on a futuristic-looking horse which is powered along through the streets by 100 cyclists riding together in a Cyclopedia:

 

Design for Godiva Awakes giant puppet

 

The evolution of the Godiva puppet

 

Godiva is  re-imagined as “a new superhero for the 21st Century” (BBC), and as ‘a contemporary icon for the region, a symbol of courage, fairness, social justice, self sacrifice and sustainability who will create a unique spectacle as she walks to London to take part in the London 2012 celebrations’. She is the centrepiece of a processional extravaganza involving performers of all sorts: musicians, puppeteers, acrobats, dancers and choristers. As many of these giant puppets do (since Royal de Luxe), she awakes from another time – her previous life 1000 years ago – observes the new world, and performs a ceremonial mission.

A larger purpose of the event is drawing in community and young people in lots of ways.  It also celebrates the rich heritage in engineering and innovation the West Midlands; showcases the artists and craftsmen that carry on those  and other traditions (particularly textile arts): and it is hoped it will support and develop the skills of a new generation of makers, performers and event producers.

The @GodivaAwakes twitter feed is releasing photos everyday of the developing project and although they are not giving too much away, there are nice making photos in their gallery, such as the ones above.

Giant boy puppet at the 2011 Rugby World Cup

Posted by hil

 

I still take an interest in giant marionettes that operate roughly along the same lines as the Royal de Luxe ones. Tonight I happened across this giant boy puppet called Junior,  New Zealand’s Biggest Fan, which took part in the festivities during last years Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. There’s always an invented backstory , however sketchy, for these puppets. Junior was made by Bomb Props who have released this making of video:

 

 

The London Circuit’s sock puppet video

Posted by hil

 

Local Canberra band The London Circuit released this cool video clip for their single Walk last week, featuring cute sock puppets by Hannah McCann. She has some great photos of the making and filming. The band’s EP is expected to be released in early April.

A beautiful little wing mechanism

Posted by hil

Suspended wing by Dukno Yoon

 

This beautiful little wing mechanism making a playful kinetic ring is made by Dukno Yoon, a jeweller and metalsmith. There are other equally lovely ones operated by various small hand and wrist movements in his gallery. (via Colossal)

War Horse

Posted by hil

 

After hearing Adrian Kohler talking about Handspring Puppet Company‘s War Horse at UNIMA 2008 in Perth, I made a special point of seeing it in London later that year when I was travelling. It was remarkable and wonderful.

Since then War Horse has been much celebrated, and has played to increasing audiences, moving from the National Theatre to the West End, and then to Broadway. Most recently it has been staged in Toronto, and, excitingly, it will be in Melbourne’s Arts Centre in December this year.

I think the TED talk above is the best demonstration of the puppets I’ve seen outside the theatre. Despite their impressionistic construction with movement, breath and emotional gestures they become breathtakingly alive. (Eric Hart linked to this great infographic by Trish McAlaster on how the puppets work.)

 

Horsepower: the War Horse puppets and puppeteers infographic by Trish Mcalaster / The Globe and Mail

 

The horse puppets get most of the interest, which is natural, but there’s also a lovely puppet goose, and an enormous tank that comes on stage, rolling up over a barricade, and rearing over the audience. I really don’t know how they did that! And I also enjoyed the music and loved the minimalist set, essentially a suggested torn piece of paper above the back of the stage, on which simple animations were projected from time to time.

The attitude towards war in the play is unusual, slipping past taking sides, who is in the right or wrong and strategy, and emphasising rather how the horses’ fates are completely subject to the capricious needs and circumstances of humans.

By now War Horse has been made into the inevitable Spielberg movie, which I somehow don’t feel any particular need to see. (For fun take a look at Lisa Hanawalt’s illustrated review). I’m inclined to think that I would agree with Emily Landau’s article Why war Horse’s puppets win by flaunting their artificiality. Apparently an animatronic horse was used for a few seconds for humane reasons in one scene in the movie. I caught a glimpse of this on YouTube a few weeks ago but the video has since been withdrawn.

Lastly, I love the illustration of the Handspring puppets by Byron Eggenschwiler accompanying Landau’s article.

Latest Australian Puppeteer Mag is out

Posted by hil

Australian Puppeteer Magazine, Issue 41, Feb 2011

 

I received my copy of the latest Australian Puppeteer Magazine a couple of days ago. It’s a good looking production at the moment under the new editorship of Robert Reid. In this edition there are features on Terrapin Theatre Company‘s and Sydney Puppet Theatre‘s history and plans, and Tim Denton‘s reflections on his Bread and Puppet experience two years on. Also, interviews with Duda Paiva, Heath McIvor, and Richard Hart (the last being about the upcoming Tarrengower Puppetfest, a dialogue via Kay Yasugi about marionette puppetry in the classroom, and various reviews.

The magazine is available twice a year to members of UNIMA Australia. Don’t forget that you can also get news of the puppetry arts in Australia via the free monthly Oz Puppetry Email Newsletter.

Testing an elephant trunk

Posted by hil

 

The elephants in yesterday’s post reminded me of this big elephant trunk I made for The Flying Fruit Fly production, The Promise, in 2008. It was meant to wave out from behind some set element, implying the whole elephant was just behind. The mechanism was based on a tentacle mechanism I had worked out previously, but was more complicated because the control lines were too long for the see-saw lever and instead required spools to wind the lines onto alternately to take up the slack. In turn there was a lot of tension exerted on the spools, and the trunk weight added to that problem. So, not a perfect solution, but an interesting make.

 

 

I also thought this was nifty – wrinkly elephant skin made by painting latex on stretched lycra! This idea was suggested to me by Tim Denton, from AboutFace Productions, who did the major build for the show, and it worked brilliantly.

 

Amit Drori’s miniature mechanical elephants

Posted by hil

I’ve been entranced by Royal de Luxe‘s and La Machine‘s huge mechanical elephants, but this evening I came across Israeli Amit Drori‘s enchanting small mechanical elephants, made for his show Savanna. The elephants are computerised robots with complex mechanisms and live motion control. As well as the birds and turtle in this video, in another is a beautiful buck.

New-ish La Machine creatures in Nantes

Posted by hil

Since going to La Machine in Nantes in 2008 I like to see what new sea creatures are being made in the workshop there. This TV news video shows the sea monster, a shell, a nautilus, a school of flying fish, another fish ship and a new kind of fish in action. I’m not sure where this amazing fish and turtle fit in , but they are cool!

Previously: Riding the giant elephant