puppetry

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.

Vigil for the fair treatment of David Hicks

Posted by hil

one

Vigil for the fair treatment of David Hicks.

Bread and puppet

Posted by hil

Bread

Take a look at this really silly advertisement for Noble Rise breads. I mean, why would you bother, when he is so obviously satisfied with a puppet? ;-p

(The clip only worked in IE for me)

Look what I found…

Posted by hil

Two video clips at YouTube of that cool puppet in Berlin that I blogged about in October!

Puppet Run
Titere Andante

Still no clue as to who the performer group is.

Sesame Street is deployed

Posted by hil

Elmos_dad_deploysthumb

I’ve never been able to stomach the sentimental side of the Muppets. That, and the inevitable connection with the madness that is the Iraq war, and its release coinciding with the 3000th US military death there, makes me feel pretty down on the Sesame Street production When Parents Are Deployed, despite understanding that it is designed to help families deal with the anxiety of separation and deployment.

There is a constant unspoken shadow – ‘so what if Elmo’s dad doesn’t come back?’. The makers acknowledge that a parent being injured or killed is undoubtedly the biggest fear of military children, but say it was unaddressed ‘because grief brought with it issues entirelydifferent from absence and would change the show’s focus.’ They add they are ‘open to doing another special where this issue is addressed, provided funding could be secured’.

I think we should instead teach people not to participate in war.

Puppet Up! – Uncensored in Australia

Posted by hil

Puppetup

Puppet Up! – Uncensored is coming to Australia late in the summer, first to the Big Laugh Comedy Festival in Sydney in March, and then the Melbourne Comedy Festival in April. I’ve just been watching the video clip and it looks like it could be a lot of fun. The Age recently had a short interview about the show with Susan Provan, the director of the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience: new slideshow

Posted by hil

Dino

(Photo credit: Craig Sillitoe)

Today’s online Sydney Morning Herald has a slideshow of new photos by Craig Sillitoe about the making of Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience with a narration by their Head of Creature Design, Sonny Tilders.

Previously: Workshop footage, Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience

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.

Duck walks into a Bar

Posted by hil

Duck

I also received a note about Duck walks into a Bar, a ‘bar-hopping, Muppet-style character who likes to troll bars in search of babes, booze and free drinks’, created by Kevin Susman & James Murray. It’s not particularly my taste, but the puppetry, character and video production are slick, so take a look.