puppets

New website for Royal de Luxe

Royal de luxe logo

For a long time Royal de Luxe had no website, then a very rudimentary one.  Now they have a new one; great to see, though maybe not yet as expansive as you might desire!

Robotic eyes and mouths as wearable rings

 

I bet these would get snaffled as components for more complex puppets!

(via Laughing Squid)

Xolo will be in Liverpool too

Xolo, Royal de Luxe

 

Here’s a great photo of Xolo, Royal de Luxe‘s giant dog!  It’s just been announced that Xolo will be appearing the Sea Odyssey Giant Spectacle in Liverpool in a couple of weeks time, along with the Little Giantess and her uncle, the deep sea diver.

Previously:

Handspring Theatre Company’s Crow

Handspring Theatre Company's Crow puppet

 

Handspring Puppet Company UK, the sister company to Handspring Puppet Company South Africa, has a major new dance theatre production called Crow premiering in mid-June as part of the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival in London. It is inspired by Ted Hughes’ 1970 poetic work Crow.

Crow witnesses God’s creation in the Garden of Eden and adds his own dry trickery to the events. Droll, lonely, adaptable, laughing, watching, instinctive and curious, Crow is in all of us, and in these poems Hughes presents the songs he would sing. – London 2012 Festival

The prototype puppet looks cool! (via the Telegraph.co.uk)

Handspring Theatre Company's Crow puppet

As does the illustration for the promotional material:

Illustration for Handspring Theatre Company's Crow

D-Generation: An Exaltation of Larks

Eric Bass and Sandglass Theater have been appealing for support on Kickstarter for their theatre project D-Generation: An Exaltation of Larks. It will be full-length theatre piece based on stories written by groups of people with late-stage dementia, exploring the surprising creative potential of people living with dementia. There is a short but interesting making video included. The appeal has been successful, but I dare say they wouldn’t say no to further pledges!

Mécaniques Discursives

 

These are two videos of a cool audiovisual installation, Mécaniques Discursives, being developed by Yannick Jacquet (aka Legoman) and Fred Penelle. It’s an intiguing mixture of shadows and shadow puppets, unlikely contraptions, projection mapping, and edgy music.

 

Royal de Luxe’s Sea Odyssey

 

Four years ago La Machine debuted their giant spider, La Princesse in Liverpool. This year, as one of the cities directly connected with the Titanic which sank on 15 April 1912, it’s marking the centenary with numerous events, the highlight of which will be the Sea Odyssey Giant Spectacle by the associated company, Royal de Luxe, on 20 – 22 April. It’ll feature the Little Giantess and her uncle, the deep sea diver, in a story adapted for the occasion. A number of cool promo ads in which the Little Giantess is wandering the city and peeping into different famous places have been released.

 

 

Search my blog for La Machine and Royal de Luxe if you are interested in more links – I’ve posted a lot about them and their influence over the years!

White butterflies

white butterfly costume

 

The two white butterflies body suits that I was working on last week are finished. Last Sunday one of the butterflies was out and about at the Canberra Airport Open Day. You can see more photos taken on the day at The Fool Factory’s gallery.

 

White butterfly costume

A Bird, A Tree, The Moon

A Bird, A Tree, The Moon is the most recent production by Melbourne visual theatre company Peepshow Inc. The pesky skeleton bird puppet is a lovely! Directed by Melinda Hetzel and performed by Nick Barlow and Angela Orrego, the show played to passers-by outdoors at night in City Square.  Alison Croggon has a great review.

It sounds as if the inaugural Tarrengower Puppetfest was very succesful. The Tarrengower Times has a gallery of photos from the weekend taken by Andrew Hobbs.

The National Theatre and Global Creatures are seeking performers /puppeteers  for its upcoming production of War Horse, which will open at the Arts Centre in Melbourne, January 2013.  Their casting brief (pdf) gives details and who to contact if you are interested.