NEWS
AND UPDATES ON PUPPETEERS AND COMPANIES
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Movingstage
in Pakistan
 On
15 November Movingstage departed for Pakistan
for their World Performing & Visual Arts
Festival which took place from 17-27 November.
Movingstage first toured Pakistan in 1982,
travelling from Karachi to Lahore by steam
train and then on to Islamabad and Rawalpindi
giving 27 performances in 30 days that included,
at one point, moving the stage and puppets
by ox cart. Faizaan and twin Sadaan Peerzada
got the puppet bug and since then have toured
worldwide, established UNIMA in Pakistan,
built a puppet museum and mounted 11 international
festivals with participation from more than
60 countries in which 355 groups with more
than 3000 artists performed. These performances
have brought a wealth of experience from the
cultures of the world to Pakistan and vice
versa.
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Norwich
Puppet Theatre Xmas Treats
Norwich
Puppet Theatre's Christmas season sees two
productions on show – firstly, from
Belgium, the internationally-acclaimed Theater
Taptoe's production of Scrooge (17-27 December)
which takes Dicken's Christmas Carol story
and gives it a new twist. With humanette,
rod and shadow puppetry all played in a magnificent
wooden set that fills the Puppet Theatre stage.
The Norwich Puppet Theatre's own production
of Roald Dahl's George's Marvellous Medicine
runs from 30th December-3rd January. George
uses a range of rod puppets - including the
incredible growing Granny - to tell the tale
of a boy who is picked on by his mean grandmother
until he makes up a special medicine with
some surprising effects. Meanwhile, the NPT
production of Pinocchio will be playing in
December at Centro Cultural de Belem in Lisbon,
Portugal. After the New Year, the theatre
takes a well earned rest before kicking off
the Spring season with Bryan Clarke's Punch
& Judy, Patrick Lynch's Watch the Birdie
and Garlic Theatre's George & the Dragon.
Information in the next e-dition of Animations
on events to tie in with the Norfolk &
Norwich Festival in May, and Norwich City
Council's Openstages Festival of Theatre in
Summer 2006!
Contact details: Norwich Puppet Theatre, St
James, Whitefriars, Norwich NR3 1TN. Tel:
01603 615564 www.puppettheatre.co.uk
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Little
Angel Theatre New Territories
 The
Board of Trustees of The Little Angel Theatre
are delighted to announce the appointment
of Peter Glanville as Artistic Director of
The Little Angel Theatre. Peter is founder
and Artistic Director of Kazzum Arts Project
and has directed over 40 productions for the
company including The Jungle Book, The Little
Mermaid, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Romeo
and Juliet. Installations include Diving For
Pearls At BAC And Cushions And Clouds at The
Bull. Peter will start full time at The Little
Angel from 16 Jan 2006.
This autumn (October 2005) saw a triumphant
visit to New York for the Little Angel, with
the Mouse Queen. New York critic Richard Hinojosa
had this to say on nytheatre.com: ‘The
Mouse Queen is a story of big dreams, big
egos, and the big city...The ensemble is a
sight to see, working as musicians, actors,
and puppeteers…. Peter O’Rourke’s
set and puppet designs are quite remarkable
in their combination of simplicity and extraordinary
detail…Director Steve Tiplady’s
staging is charming. He never forgets who
his audience is’. They hope to return
to the Big Apple with Jabberwocky in 2006.
www.littleangeltheatre.com
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Kazzum
at Artsdepot
 Kazzum
is presenting its second co-production with
Artsdepot, ‘The Little Mermaid’.
Adapted from Hans Christian Andersen’s
tale by Siân Jones and directed by Peter
Glanville, The Little Mermaid runs from 8
– 31 December. The family show promises
to visually astound with its use of UV puppetry,
designed by Daemon Hoskin. Nautical and aquatic
inspired sets are designed by Jason Denvir.
The Little Mermaid follows Kazzum’s
success in December 2004 with Pinocchio, also
co-produced with Artsdepot. In April 2006,
Kazzum will present The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,
their Vietnamese Water Puppetry influenced
show in association with The Little Angel,
for three weeks. www.kazzum.org
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Mary
Speaght and Joyce Wren - RIP
Peter
Charlton writes: November 2005 will remain
in the memories of many puppeteers for some
time as the month when we lost two great ladies
from our world. On November 13, Mary Speaight,
wife of theatre historian and toy theatre
performer George Speaight, died at the age
of 93. Mary was seen at many puppetry events
accompanying George, and on one memorable
occasion, at Pollocks Toy Museum, took part
in one of George’s shows. I had always
assumed that she came to puppetry because
of George, but it was revealed at her funeral
that she began using puppets (glove puppets)
when she was a teacher in the Isle of Dogs
and it was through her interest in puppetry
that she met George. Mary was also an accomplished
artist and calligrapher and leaves behind
her many wonderful examples of her talent.
Four days later, on November 17, Joyce Wren,
puppeteer, voice teacher and friend of many
puppeteers also died. Once a member of Barry
Smith’s Theatre of Puppets, Joyce channelled
her great enthusiasm for our artform as a
puppeteer, director and latterly voice teacher
to the great benefit of all. The Little Angel
Theatre has dedicated its current ‘Angelo’
season to Joyce’s memory.
Penny Francis adds: Joyce was a superb and
original puppet-maker, as evidenced in the
figures she made for The Sorcerer's Apprentice,
produced by Barry Smith's Theatre of Puppets.
However, so modest was she about this aspect
of her numerous skills, that few people were
aware of it.
From Francis Wright: Joyce was an astonishing
powerhouse of enthusiasm, endlessly encouraging
and patient, her friendship a thing to be
treasured… Perhaps her own abilities
as a puppeteer were not allowed to develop
as much as they might have done… If
anything, she suffered from being pigeon-holed
as ‘Joyce the Voice’ – a
specialist in an effective and idiosyncratic
style of vocal delivery. This style was perfectly
suited to the recorded soundtracks of The
Little Angel Theatre’s plays of which
she became so much a part.
Tributes to Joyce Wren, including the full
text of Francis Wright’s appreciation,
amongst many others, can be found in the News
section of Puppeteers UK (PUK) website: www.puppeteersuk.com
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Beka
Haigh- an emerging artist to watch
 Having
graduated from a theatre design degree at
Nottingham
Trent University in 2004, Beka sent off many
CVs and gained a couple of interviews. David
Wheeler and Richard Sobey at IOU Theatre (Halifax)
gave her a fantastic opportunity - a pilot
project to support and fund an emerging artist
in a chosen field (hers being puppetry). In
the time that she spent at IOU, she developed
a site specific show for the woods; a promenade
piece in which the audience walk around the
woods and are confronted with various creatures
that inhabit the space, inspired by characters
found in local folklore stories. She also
recently received Arts Council funding to
develop this show further (for an invited
audience) and to carry on her own professional
development. Contact details: email bekahaigh@gmail.com |
Abalino
Dance Theatre at Resolution! Festival
 Abalino
Dance Theatre uses innovative and experimental
puppetry techniques that combine the expressive
qualities of dance and physical theatre with
the magic of puppetry. Drawing on principles
from Bunraku theatre, the circus, and ideas
of illusions and transformations, it aims
to develop a blend of wordless movement and
puppet theatre. The performer is part-dancer,
part-puppeteer and part-puppet. The result
is illusive and touching. Director Alice Cade
attempts to develop and push the boundaries
of puppetry for adult audiences, dealing with
the dark and ambiguous aspects of human nature.
After their 2005 success with Bobroshkov’s
Dream, Abalino will next present Weave, which
premieres at The Place, London WC1 on 27 January
2006 as part of the Resolution! Festival.
Book online at www.theplace.org.uk
clicking on the red star on the home page. |
Theatre-rites
– New Developments
Theatre-rites announces new appointments following
a strategic review and restructure during
its tenth anniversary year. Claire Templeton
is Executive Producer, having previously been
Theatre Officer at Arts Council London. Also
joining the company from Arts Council London
is Jo Stendall who is Administrator, taking
over from Jill Shelley who becomes Project
Manager. Sue Buckmaster continues as Artistic
Director. The award-winning theatre-rites
pioneers imaginative new approaches in theatre
for children and adults, creating a memorable
shared experience. The company draws on a
rich and often unexpected fusion of performance,
installation art, puppetry, movement, video,
music and sound to create touring shows, site-specific
pieces, installations and exhibitions. Theatre-rites
receives revenue funding from Arts Council
England.
Contact details: Theatre-rites, The Warehouse,
12 Ravensbury Terrace, London SW18 4RL.
t: +44 (0)20 8946 2236 f: +44 (0)20 8946 0965
e: info@theatre-rites.co.uk
w: www.theatre-rites.co.uk
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Sketty
Productions with Imogen at the Oval
Sketty
Productions' Imogen is described as a piece
of ‘lyrical physical theatre’
(in Three Weeks, on their Edinburgh Fringe
2005 run). It follows the emotional torment
of Leonardo, a father whose life has been
crushed by the untimely death of his eight-year-old
daughter. His mind resurrects his child (played
by a puppet) in a desperate attempt to avoid
facing up to his now rootless existence. The
piece encompasses loss, pain and hope shown
through a powerful combination puppetry, physical
and visual theatre.
Appearing at Winchester College on 13 Jan
2006, before a run at the Oval House, London
from 23 Jan – 11 Feb. Contact details:
email Toby Clarke on sketty_productions@hotmail.com,
tel 07779 391165, see www.skettyproductions.co.uk
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Babbling
Vagabonds Lonely Giant
Following
their success at the Trafalgar Day celebrations,
Babbling Vagabonds will be performing their
new show The Lonely Giant in Bakewell in the
run up to Christmas. For further information,
email info@babblingvagabonds.co.uk
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Puppet
Planet
 Come
to Puppet Planet for kitsch and culture! You
will find century-old wayang kulit and vintage
carved hand puppets alongside contemporary
pop-up and finger puppets. Punch and Judy
rub shoulders with characters from Thunderbirds,
classic Pelham, Hazelle, traditional African
and Indian marionettes. The puppet theme is
found on hankies and jewellery, cards and
stationery – plenty of stocking fillers
and seasonal gifts to animate your Christmas!
Visit 787 Wandsworth Rd, SW8 or www.puppetplanet.co.uk
Tel /Fax: 020 7627 0111 |
Archie
dummy sells for £34,000
A
private collector has paid £34,000 for
the original Archie Andrews dummy used by
ventriloquist Peter Brough in the 1950s radio
show, Educating Archie. The show had a fan
club of 250,000 and attracted 15m listeners
at its peak. The dummy sold for more than
double the £15,000 estimate at Taunton
auctioneers Greenslade Taylor Hunt on Tuesday,
where it was sold by Brough's family.
For full details of the story, see news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/somerset/4459700.stm
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Puppet
Trailer For Sale
Eye-catching
red and yellow box trailer resembling a miniature
Gypsy Caravan offered. Traditional carved
and painted features, curved green roof with
fixed skylight, fold-down front flap, rear
double door with clown face handle and lock.
Tow bar, working electrics, new tyres, rear
reflectors. 8'6" long (including towbar),
5' wide and 5'9" high. Also included:
awning and puppet show rig. Located West London.
Cost: £1,000. Contact details: email
jane_henderson@onetel.com
or call 0773 670 2207 for further details
or to arrange viewing. Can arrange shipment/delivery.
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TRAINING
AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Puppetry
Short Course at CSSD
Catherine
Connolly will be leading the Puppetry Short
Course at Central School Of Speech & Drama
2006. The course is an introduction to the
basic skills and history of puppetry &
object manipulation. Spring term runs from
9 Jan 2006- 1 Mar 2006 inc, Mon and Weds evenings
7:30pm - 9:00pm, Intensive day 1:00pm- 6:00pm,
18th Feb. Contact details for further information:
email Cath on cathjconnolly@yahoo.co.uk
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Horse+Bamboo
2006 Training and Workshop Programme Courses:
The
Secret Life of Objects -
Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th
February 2006
This weekend workshop will focus on the
‘building blocks’ of various
different styles of puppetry, such as focus,
grounding and breath. Participants will
be given the opportunity to explore different
puppetry techniques and styles using a range
of unusual objects and materials.
Trainer: Mark Whitaker (Norwich Puppet Theatre)
Course Cost Per Person: £115.00
Playing In The Trees -
Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th February
2006
Using the recent Horse + Bamboo Theatre
production of In the Shadow of Trees as
a starting point, this course will explore
the way in which sound and music can create
a narrative for wordless storytelling. Using
masks and puppets from the production, we
will explore the ways in which rhythm and
music can affect the physicality and movement
of characters themselves. Chris is the Musical
Director for In the Shadow of Trees, and
Morag is both a musician and mask performer.
Trainers: Chris Davies & Morag Cross
Course Cost Per Person: £125.00
The Lempen Method -
Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th February
2006
Lempen Puppet Theatre is one of the most
respected puppet companies in the UK. Using
their new show, The am-A-zing Thing, as
a starting block, the Lempen duo will explore
with you their process of creating a visual,
contemporary and original piece of puppet
theatre. Then - starting with the seed of
an idea, brain-storming with the puppets
in mind, storyboarding, and finally, with
hands-on playing and devising, using Lempen’s
own puppets - create your own mini-drama!
Trainers: Lempen Puppet Theatre (Liz and
Daniel Lempen)
Course Cost Per Person: £125.00
The Show's The Thing -
Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th March 2006
The ever-popular Dynamic New Animation return
with a new course! Spend a weekend with
DNA creating your own short adult cabaret
act, come with an idea and we will bring
it to life! Create instant puppets, use
those everyday objects lying about the house
and flex your creative muscles! We will
develop basic techniques, build confidence
& ability, play with the imagination
and push the boundaries of puppetry.
Trainer: Rachel Riggs—DNA
Course Cost Per Person: £115.00
Masks Inside & Out -
Monday 24th to Friday 28th July 2006
This course will cover two of the elements
which make Horse + Bamboo’s work so
distinctive – the making and the performance
of helmet masks. With Alison Duddle, participants
will design and create a full helmet mask,
using some of the same stimulus and limitations
we use in creating masks for our touring
shows. With Victoria Lee, participants will
firstly explore some of the techniques and
skills used in mask performance using Horse
+ Bamboo masks, and then by the end of the
week, create a performed sequence using
their own mask.
Trainers: Alison Duddle (AD of Horse+Bamboo)
& Victoria Lee
Course Cost Per Person: £250.00
Rhythm of the Mask -
Monday 31st July to Friday 4th August 2006
Through the course of its work Horse + Bamboo
has developed a close link between masked
performance and music. This is a week-long
course in bringing the mask alive and unfolding
storytelling through musicality. We will
use the recent touring show A Strange (and
Unexpected!) Event as a model, working on
some of the scenes and showing some of the
principles about how the performance was
built up. Although this is a workshop involving
music, it is performance based so no musical
skills are required - just an ability to
open your ears to new influences!
Trainers: Loz Kaye & Victoria Lee
Course Cost Per Person: £250.00
For further details on all the above, or
to book a place, contact Horse+Bamboo on
01706 220241 or see www.horseandbamboo.org
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A
Call for Papers – Metaphors of Puppets
Contributions
are invited to a panel convened by Matthew
Isaac Cohen (Royal Holloway, University of
London) and John Bell (Emerson College) at
Performance Studies Institution 12, which
will be held at Queen Mary, University of
London, 15-18 June 2006.
Metaphors of puppets—puppet dictators,
politicians who pull the strings, marionette
courts—suffuse the discourses of political
justice and human rights. In nearly all instances,
these puppet metaphors denote the effacement
of agency and the disguise of corrupt interests.
But the radical nature of the puppet theatre
— its potential to ventriloquate counter-hegemonic
voices and speak truths that are not bound
by ordinary strictures of social accountability
— offers unique possibilities of critique
and protest and the seeds of revolution and
insurrection. The king’s head can be
chopped off in a rough street puppet play
with greater ease and conviction than in a
published broadside or play with human actors.
This panel examines the performance of power
and resistance in the struggle for human rights
in terms of the metaphor of ‘the puppet’
and the performance of actual puppets. Contributions
might deal, for example, with the use of puppets
to assert and create new human rights; the
use of puppets to deprive humans of fundamental
rights; the ways that people are figured as
puppets in human rights discourse, its instruments,
conventions and declarations; relations between
anti-puppet discrimination and violations
of human rights; the paradoxical ways that
puppets help shape understandings and experiences
of what it is to be human. Presentations can
take the form of academic papers, video lectures
or lo-tech/hi-theory puppet shows. Proposals
for presentations can be sent to John Bell
by email to: John_Bell@emerson.edu
or Matthew Cohen to: Matthew.Cohen@rhul.ac.uk
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Devoted
and Disgruntled - Improbable’s Open
Space Event
Devoted
and Disgruntled - What are we going to do
about theatre?
Facilitated by Phelim McDermott, a two-day
event, 7th and 8th January 2006, 10am –
7pm
National Youth Theatre, 443-445 Holloway
Road, London, N7 6LW
This Event hopes to support some creative
ideas and actions around the issues you
might feel devoted and disgruntled about.
It will address the things you care about
and maybe wish could be different in any
aspect of our profession. The things which
you feel are important or unaddressed in
our community. It will be the first time
Improbable has hosted an event like this
and Improbable invite you to join us in
this new adventure of trying to make change
happen, or even if you are just curious
about a new way of working with groups in
a self organising way.
‘Open Space’ has been used all
over the world with predictable results.
This will be an exciting open-ended event
that enables a self-organising group to
use its collective imagination to deal with
complex issues and it will achieve this
in an incredibly short space of time. By
the end of the event the following will
have occurred: Every issue of concern to
anybody will have been raised, if they took
responsibility for doing that. All issues
will have received full discussion, to the
extent desired. A full report of issues
and discussions will be in the hands of
all participants. And YOU will have taken
part in making it happen. A strong point
of Open Space is its ability to unite groups
of enormous diversity, to that end we are
encouraging all participants. Cost: £15/person.
Facilitator: Phelim McDermott, Co-Artistic
Director, Improbable.
All proceeds are to cover direct costs of
this event including the hire of the space,
refreshments and equipment hires.
For further information, e-mail to: whatarewegoingtodoabouttheatre
@improbable.co.uk
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Teaching
Puppetry in Higher Education - A PALATINE
workshop
Royal
Holloway, 11 Bedford Square, London WC1
Friday, 28 April 2006, 9 am to 5 pm
Keynote speaker: Professor Henryk Jurkowski
This
one-day workshop will be an initial attempt
to bring together scholars, practitioners,
curators and others concerned with the discipline
of puppetry working in higher education
(HE) and allied areas. Under investigation
will be how the discipline of puppetry,
with its distinctive characteristics and
ways of creating meaning, is taught and
learned in higher educational settings.
Among the areas to be considered are how
practices, theories and histories puppetry
are defined and debated; how IT and digital
technologies are integrated with teaching
and learning puppetry; what roles museums
have to play in relation to puppetry in
HE. Many of the questions at this point
will be preliminary. What expectations do
students have of puppetry? How are canons
of puppetry constructed or challenged in
HE? How are theories of puppetry introduced
and debated? How are practices of puppetry
taught? What special resources are needed
for teaching puppetry in HE?
Participants will be encouraged to circulate
course materials (e.g., syllabi, course
documents) in advance of the event. Emphasis
will be on discussion, comparison and devising
new approaches to teaching and learning.
If interested in attending, please contact
Dr Matthew Isaac Cohen, Department of Drama
& Theatre, Royal Holloway, University
of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, Fax:
01784 431018, e-mail: matthew.cohen@rhul.ac.uk
For more on PALATINE (Performing Arts Learning
and Teaching Innovation Network), the national
Subject Centre for Dance, Drama and Music
that supports and enhances learning and
teaching in higher education, see: www.lancs.ac.uk/palatine/
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Puppet
Notebook
The
next issue of Puppet Notebook, a print publication
produced by British UNIMA, includes: Poh
Sim Plowright on puppetry in Rajasthan;
Chris Abbot on virtual puppeteers in schools
in Britain and Japan; Dispatches from Seville,
Korea and Hungary; reviews of Jim Henson's
philosophy, Midsummer Night's Dream at the
RSC and Schubert's Winterreise. All the
news and listings of puppet events in Britain
and abroad, plus a seasonal treat - a copy
of Grandmother's Footsteps, a designer flickbook
to cut out and keep.
See www.unima.org.uk
for subscription details and stockists or
email puppetnotebook@unima.org.uk
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We
Want Muffin – Muffin the Mule on DVD
To
coincide with the new TV animation comes
a nicely-packaged two-disc box set of Muffin
as was. This 60th anniversary collectors’
edition DVD is the most comprehensive selection
of original Muffin the Mule footage ever
released. All 20 of the original episodes
in all their black-and-white glory, plus
three unique extras: footage of the Hogarth
Puppets world tour with Muffin; a film of
Muffin meeting Sooty (a bizarre and wondrous
gem from the BBC archives, featuring fag-in-hand
Children’s TV Personality of the Year
Humphrey Lestocq); and a special colour
film animation called Muffin and the Reluctant
Carrot, directed by Jan Bussell. Also included
is a souvenir booklet on the history of
Muffin, with photos of the clattering Mule
himself, Annette Mills (who writes the songs)
and Ann Hogarth (who pulls the strings).
Produced by Maverick. Can be ordered via
Amazon or see www.lacegroup.com
Sales enquiries: andy@lacegroup.com
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Ed
Hartwell’s Finger Kingdom
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Ed
Hartwell Presents: Finger Kingdom - six
tales of quests, contests, ghosts and sausages.
Told with finger puppets, Finger Kingdom
is set in days of old when knights rode
giraffes, dragons lived in the forest, and
shopping for underpants was not only dangerous,
but potentially confusing as well. To find
out more, visit the website: