theatre

Ronnie Burkett is coming to Sydney

Posted by hil

Ronnieburkett4

Ronnie Burkett’s new show 10 Days on Earth is coming to Sydney in from 15 February – 3 March, and there is an early bird special of $38 for tickets bought for any performance from 15th to 20th February (a saving of $10 on a normal adult price). The offer expires at 5pm on Friday 9th Feb, so get in quick! If you get a chance to go, grab it; I saw Burketts’s show Tinka’s New Dress in Melbourne in 2002, and it was truly amazing theatre.

Bookings can be made on (02) 9250 7777, or at the Sydney Opera House website. They also now have an information page about the show. Burkett will also give a free post performance discussion, on Tuesday 20th Feb. I’ve heard him talk in person, and thats not an opportunity to be missed either.

Happy New Year

Posted by hil

Happy New Year, blog friends. A new year and my 300th post!

Last night I dreamed vividly (and I mean vivid physically!) of giving birth – one of those oops-I-need-to-push, and-I’m-in-the-supermarket-and, oh-my-goodness-here-it-is! births, and then a tiny crumpled gorgeous creature cupped in my hands! (maybe because I had seen the tiny animals on fingers photos?)! You will have to take my word for it that it was a good dream, though, and surely its auspicious to dream of giving birth on a new year’s day, don’t you think?

These are the draft drawings I did for the poster for The Moth Tree. I’m particularly fond of the one with the little girl in it.

I used some chalky pastels to do this, and I always forget what lovely effects they give and how much pleasure I get from using them. I should really draw more often, just for pleasure.

A while ago I discovered a lovely sculpture in the ANU, Winged Harvest by Fiona Foley, which has silver bogong moths. I didn’t give them a thought when I was doing the poster, but I really think there must have been some subconscious connection going on here.

Mothssm

(photo credit: Tim Raupach: Cutflat)

The Moth Tree opens tomorrow night

Posted by hil

Mothtree

Over the last while I have been involved in designing and making the set, costumes and puppets for Canberra Youth Theatre‘s production, The Moth Tree: An Awesome Adventure.

The Moth Tree is a quest story set in a distant place, in a quiet part
of the world, where the ancient and beautiful Algoma City lies. Since
the very beginning of time the city has been protected by moths that
grow on an enchanted tree. Until now the city has been a haven of
harmony and a place of gentle joy. However, a band of villains have
hatched a wicked plot to bring the city to its knees. All that stands
against the coming darkness are a ragged pair of unlikely young
heroes…

The play has been developed in a collaborative process involving the group of 8 to 12 year olds, the director, Tim Hanson, and the writer, Shiereen Magsalin, workshopping and developing characters and plot lines. The intention has been to offer the kids the experience of creating and presenting theatre, with a crew of professionals. We open tomorrow night! If you are in Canberra and have kids, why not take them along to some live theatre?

Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience: Workshop footage

Posted by hil

Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience (see previous post) has released two videos of their awesome dinosaur puppetry:

Footage from the workshop
Torosaur v. Utahraptor

And here are a couple of stills from their newsletter.

Wwd_03

Steg
in the workshop. if you want an idea of HOW BIG this shows going to be, check out the size of the person working on the BABY brachi in the background (seen through Steg’s legs) … remember, he’s the BABY!

Wwd_14

Ankylosaurus in the workshop. To the right you can see one of the utahraptors in the making. There are two now in their final makeover stage and will be ready to wreak havoc with our first utahraptor who was one of the stars or the walking with dinosaurs launch, facing off with Torosaurus. (You can see someone behind the dino’s head, as an indication of scale)

I can see how you would come to call them affectionate things like baby Brachi and Steg if you were working on the build. I dare say they would have come in for a lot of swearing too! With only about five weeks till the first show in Sydney the makers must be under a lot of pressure.

Finding Nemo: the Musical

Posted by hil

Brian Kolm sent me a note a few weeks ago about Finding Nemo: the Musical, a new musical stage show at
Disney’s Animal Kingdom. (Thanks, Brian!). If you page down you can see photos of some of the large puppets, which seem impressive.

‘Principal characters such as Marlin, Nemo and Dory will be represented by live performers operating animated puppets. Some puppets are larger-than-life — such as Crush, the cool sea turtle, who is nearly the size of a Volkswagen, and Nigel the pelican, who stands 22 feet tall.


Other characters will be portrayed by a diverse array of puppetry styles, including rod, Bunraku and shadow. Tap dancing sharks, puppets riding bicycles, and a punk rock routine by Bruce the shark create theatrical magic and fun throughout the big blue world.‘

The Laughing Place has a couple of extra pictures in their two-page gallery.

The puppets have been designed by Michael Curry, who was the co-designer for The Lion King. The production opens officially in January 2007, but meanwhile preview shows have begun, and you can read a few reactions here.

Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience

Posted by hil

Small_eye

The Sydney Morning Herald today has the first glimpse on video that I have seen of a mighty puppet production that is going on in Melbourne at the moment: Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience. The creative team, with Sonny Tilders as Head of Creature Design, is making 12 life-size animatronic/puppet dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus-Rex, Brachiosaurus and the Flying Ornithoceirus ‘the largest creature to ever take wing… with a maximum wing-span of 12 metres (40 feet) and up to 3 metres tall
when standing on all fours’. The creatures will come to life at the world premiere on 10 Jan 2007 at the Acer Arena in Sydney, and will tour nationally before taking off around the world.

One of the producers, Malcolm C Cooke, has previously been involved with other puppetry productions including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the second production of The Hobbit in 2000.

Judging by the video, the puppets are simply amazing, and I hope I get to see them. I do wonder though, if there will be more to the production than sheer spectacle. I’ve wondered this about dinosaurs and realism before! Sometimes I start to crave subtlety and symbol and story.

Dinosaur

Update
Here are some newspaper reports today. The reports are similar, but different photos.
The Age: ‘We touched a dinosaur! Doyouthinkhesaurus’?
Sydney Morning Herald: OK, which of you kids called me fossil features?
The Australian:Kids get chance to walk back in time – best description of how the puppets are made and move
Courier Mail: For a stomping good time
Daily Telegraph: Dinosaurs roar back to life in arena – 3 photos

Update (8 Aug 06):
WireImage has a two-page listing of thumbnail images from the promotion the other day.

Update (22 Mar 07):
Workshop footage,
Walking with Dinosaurs: the Live Experience: new slideshow
Walking with Dinosaurs – The Live Experience: a review, and more links

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre & Shaun Tan: The Arrival

Posted by hil

arrival

Following on from yesterday’s post about the puppet-based theatre adaptation of Shaun Tan’s picture book, The Red Tree, today I discovered that Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s adaptation of Shaun’s new book, The Arrival, had just finished it’s season in Perth. The production, which The Australian gives a rave review, uses digital animation, puppetry and acting, and is visual theatre:

‘The absence of words not only makes the story perfect for puppetry but emphasizes the isolation that is experienced by many people arriving in a new place.’

Although The Arrival book doesn’t come out until October, there is an online preview, in which you can see some of the pages, and read Shaun’s detailed description. It looks wonderful – a 128 page book of illustrations without words, a
silent graphic novel, arranged and presented rather like a photo album, which can be interpreted rather like a silent film. ‘Through a series of connecting images, it tells the story of an anonymous migrant leaving some unfortunate
circumstances in his home country, crossing an ocean to a strange new city, and learning how to live here.’

The Lost Thing, another Tan book that was made into puppet theatre by Jigsaw Theatre Company here in Canberra a few years ago, and for which I made puppets, has been touring since, and is due to have a season in Melbourne this November at the Arts Centre.

I also came across some photos at Flickr of a Shaun Tan mural at the Subiaco Library in Perth.

Update:
Talking Squid’s review by Russell B. Farr

Links updated 2015

International Puppet Carnival reviews

Posted by hil

Coffee-cat, Kathleen Azali, has a cool run down on the Melbourne International Puppet Carnival, with photos, and links to a few reviews and video clips. In taking a look at her portfolio, I was interested to see Kathleen had done some making for eRTH. She made Eve, pictured here with barb barnett, in all-mother. And I love the zombie dragon made for the Magic Flute.

I meant to post something about all-mother. It was intense and challenging theatre, and the story was somewhat complex to unravel, especially since it was told backwards. It had some wonderful puppetry. In particular I remember the scene where Lilith is surrounded by small devils, creatures made from sticks and other found objects, all with their own idiosyncratic ways of moving; and the scene where one is drawn in to share her exquisite tenderness for her babies, only then to have to watch as she tears them apart, part of her punishment for saying no to Adam.

Updated links 2015

Pink shoes

Posted by hil

Pink shoes

Some large pink snake-skin shoes I made recently for Jigsaw Theatre Company’s production Little Brother Big Sister, design by Imogen Keen. I had fun with the curly thing at the back.