A Letter from the Editor
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In recent months, we’ve seen puppetry getting a fair amount of attention in the national press, much of it due to the transfer of the National Theatre’s acclaimed production, War Horse, to London’s West End.
I’d be surprised if there are many readers of Animations Online who aren’t aware of this production – but should you have somehow missed out, what you need to know is this: War Horse is set in the First World War and based on the celebrated novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was produced by the National Theatre, working with the acclaimed Handspring Puppet Company, and a winner of Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards.
After over 200 sold-out performances at the National Theatre, it is now (March 2009) transferring to the New London Theatre in Drury Lane.
Should you wish to read some insider stories on the making of the piece, you’ll find puppeteer Toby Olié’s From the Frontline article, Horse Play, in this magazine’s online archive.
There is also an account of the creation of the show by associate director Mervyn Millar, whose PCT bursary brought him to Handspring to kick-start the project, in the last edition of Animations in Print, Animated Advances, which is available to purchase from the Puppet Centre Trust.
Our next edition of Animations in Print, Volume 3, is currently in production. As with previous volumes, the next Animations in Print has a twofold purpose: it is a review of the previous year’s activity in puppetry and related arts; and it features a series of articles themed to address a key area of practice. Animations in Print Volume Three will look at the artforms of dance, mime & movement theatre, and how these relate to or interact with puppetry. It will include articles by, and interviews with, key practitioners – puppeteers, dancers, choreographers, and producers – creating performance work in which there is a relationship between the puppet/animated object and choreographed movement. Full details and order forms in the next edition of Animations Online, or contact PCT for further information.
In the meantime, this current edition of Animations Online looks to a broad spectrum of contemporary puppet theatre and related arts, including Blind Summit’s collaboration with Complicite, Shun-Kin; the fantastic international puppetry and object theatre seen at this year’s London International Mime Festival; the experimental visual theatre of Living Structures, creators of ‘immersive theatre’ show Cart Macabre; the wonderful puppetry and visual theatre shows and workshops experienced at Manipulate Festival in Scotland; and a tribute to the marvellous Luis Z Boy, former director of Norwich Puppet Theatre.
Rather a lot of superlatives in that last paragraph, but we feel this spring is the moment to sing puppetry’s praises…
Happy reading!
Dorothy Max Prior, Editor
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