Surprise turn of events in Hungary

After an incredibly inspiring six-week European Workshop tour of Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Hungary, my final workshop on this leg of the tour was giving a workshop for Napsugár Puppet Theatre in Békéscsaba, southern Hungary last night.

After a wonderfully energetic beginning with dance and Brain Gym, followed by a guided visualisation, we started our 'Paper Meditation', where each participant received a large sheet of brown paper on their bodies, as they lie back and relax on the floor. The participants are instructed to keep their eyes closed and explore the paper, in their own time, using all their senses, apart from sight. Some begin to crinkle the paper, others wrap it around their heads and bodies, while some begin to dance with their paper. The exercise relies entirely on self-discovery and as the are working in a dark space, nothing they do can be observed by anyone.

During the sequence I heard a strange whispering in the darkness. I asked the participants to kindly not speak, but rather work alone in the darkness. At the end of the sequence, when the participants were giving their interpretations and feedback, a woman stood up and accused me of hypnotising the participants and calling up he occult. I was, of course, shocked. Another woman started shouting in Hungarian that this was the work of the devil and without any further notice, five of the group jumped up, claiming to be Hungarian Baptist Church members and shouted that I had no right telling anyone to release their fear and relax, as this was strictly in the hands of Christ. They promptly walked out.

This was the most curious and bizarre reaction to any of the more than twenty days of workshops I'd given anywhere  in Europe. Although the rest of the session was a resounding success, creating some of the most brilliant improvisation sequences I've seen thus far, this rather odd reaction left me with the strangest feeling that this world is really made up of some 'really curious beings'.

Now as I bid Europe farewell, for at least another few months, I fly off to Jakarta, Indonesia for the final leg of my exciting and stimulating workshop tour!

Dutch children experience the creative explosion

Here in the Netherlands, the children of the International School of Amsterdam are completely engaged this week in the creative process of puppetry workshop activity, which we are focusing specifically on primary students this week.

I mistakingly thought it would be quite a challenge engaging the very young, while at the same time, holding their attention for any length of time in our ever-growing multi media fast-paced world. But I was so wrong. The kids are engaging in each step of the way.

We begin our days with some powerful Brain Gym activity to focus their brain and get them optimally engaged in the creative process. We then take them on a guided visualisation which calms them down into a more relaxed state, relieving any tention they might hold in their busy daily lives. This is in turn is followed with the paper work. It is here that the most incredible surprises emerge, when the kids are given the opportunity to shine in their own way. Even the most non-academic students often prove themselves best in this creative process - a time where there is no right or wrong way of doing the work, as long as they are expressing themselves in the way they want and completely engaged in the communication process. For more information about this work, please visit the website here!

I have a day off tomorrow to explore the newly opened Riyksmuseum in Amsterdam, before continuing the magic at the school on Friday.

Last puppet from "Puns en Doedie" kicks the bucket

Thatcher captured by the Spitting Image team in the eighties

The Iron Lady of British politics, Margaret Thatcher, the final performer in my nineteen-eighties political street satire, "Puns en Doedie Show" (Puppets Against Apartheid) finally passed into the world of the hereafter to reunite with her former oligarchs PW Botha and Ronald Reagan.

"When you've spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment, it's exciting to have a real crisis on your hands." - Margaret Thatcher commenting on the Falkland Islands war in 1982. 

As I sit here in a library on Lake Geneva in Switzerland and reflect upon "the days of miracle and wonder" when we were all young and naive, trying in our own little way to make a dent in the Apartheid machine, not quite aware of the bigger picture and the collaboration of the triumvirate. And now the puppets have all finally been laid to rest, but the memories will remain vivid in my mind, as I recall the South African security police hurriedly taking notes at my street performances and being warned of this by the local newspaper reporter, Tony Jackman.

So let me wish Madame Thatcher well in her journeys in the hereafter and tell her it was fun manipulating her, even from the far away colonies, during the nineteen-eighties.

Sad day reflecting on the life of Jane Henson

It is indeed a sad day when a beloved figure of World Puppetry leaves us. Jane Henson was adored by puppeteers worldwide as a generous propagator of our esteemed art.  Jane, wife of the late muppet-master, Jim Henson, passed away yesterday of cancer at their family home in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.

As I head off today to begin a six-week European workshop tour, I fell sad but grateful to have been part of an all embracing community that reached out and touch the hearts and minds of our small puppetry community in every corner of this tiny planet. Fare thee well Jane Henson.

Ronnie Burkett's 'Penny Plain' for Australia

“An apocalyptic ‘what if’ fantasy from a master of his craft… brilliant, beautiful and painful…a ferocious production unafraid to challenge you” Vue Weekly, Canada

World-renowned master of marionettes, Ronnie Burkett returns to Australia with his beautifully dark apocalyptic comedy, Penny Plain. From her overstuffed chair, Penny Plain sits listening to the news of civilization’s inevitable end. When her companion dog Geoffrey leaves to live as a man, Penny’s end-of-days vigil is interrupted by survivalists, a serial killer, a cross-dressing banker, talking dogs and mysterious strangers, all seeking sanctuary from mother earth as she begins reclaiming her ground. Penny Plain may be blind, but she hears a lot about the fate of mankind.

Ronnie Burkett has produced some of the world’s most elaborate adult puppetry, performing sell-out seasons in Australia for over ten years. Ronnie is interviewed about 'Penny Plain' here! I look so forward to seeing this production in early August in Melbourne. Book here!

“Full of wit, humour and humanity, Penny Plain, is virtually flawless.” Calgary Herald, Canada
“The best of Burkett, Penny Plain is definitely at the top of the canon…layered with meaning and symbolism.” Edmonton Sun, Canada
“His talent is simply extraordinary.” Globe and Mail, Canada

Galloping in Grand Central until 31 March

Thirty ornate horses grazing in the station, by Alvin Ailey dancers, will fill Grand Central Terminal, NYC, this week in a performance conceived by artist Nick Cave. This is part of the station's centennial celebrations. To view this wonderful spectacle, go to Grand Central before the end of March, when it wraps up.
To view the film on The New York Times website, check it out here! Another video of Nick Cave preparing for the performance can be seen here!

Puppetry Audio Archive launched

Penny Francis with Gary Friedman in London

In 1984, I first interviewed Penny Francis at the 1984 UNIMA Congress and Festival in Dresden, East Germany about the state of British puppetry. Penny is the co-founder of the Puppet Centre Trust, UK and was awarded the MBE for services to puppetry in 1998. Penny is also an Honorary Fellow of the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She is one of the initial eleven interviews which I conducted in Dresden in 1984. This interview has finally been published, along with interviews with the extraordinary Convent Garden Punch Professor, the late-Percy Press Junior;  Nancy Staub from UNIMA USA; Hartmut Topf, journalist from Berlin;  John Blundell from Cannon Hill Puppet Theatre of Birmingham, among others, on Puppetry News here!  Watch out for more of this puppetry history to follow...

Message for World Puppetry Day 2013

I would like to wish all our readers a wonderful 'World Puppetry Day'!

I have the great honour to give the stage to the well respected Italian director and musicologist, Roberto De Simóne.  Roberto was the artistic director (1981-87) of Teatro San Carlo of Naples and directed many operas. Nominated in 1998 Academicien de Santa Cecilia, he received later the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the President of the French Republic. In 2003, he received the Prize Roberto Sanseverino.

"My first encounter with Pulcinella goes back into the mists of my memory; to the early days of my childhood, when Pulcinella was part of the imagery of all Neapolitan children. You could meet him in the street in the wondrous baskets of the toy-peddlers or on the stalls in the Fairs of Saint Joseph, of the Epiphany, of the Piedigrotta Festival, where small traditional toys were exhibited. Among those a small Pulcinella stood out, who, placed on a miniature trolley and pushed by a stick, would mechanically clap his hands fitted with minuscule brass cymbals. Another plaything was also extremely popular: a small red cone made of cardboard in which you could insert a toy trumpet equipped with a pivetta to play the tune of a traditional tarantella.

A small wire puller was also part of the game: when it was inserted in the cone and gently pushed by the child it made a tiny Pulcinella manikin go up and down, whose white vest was glued to the circular brim of the cone itself. Obviously the game, suggestive of a mischievous sexual movement, lent to our character a phallic meaning, which was reaffirmed also in other traditional performances.

Lastly, Pulcinella could be found in rigmaroles, nursery rhymes and fairy tales: in short, he belonged to the dreamlike fabric of tradition, so that little by little you would access his initiatory purpose, and then his deeper mysterious and emblematic significance.

To all this the itinerant Guarattelle puppet theater also contributed, in which the fanciful puppets of Pulcinella, Teresina (his sweetheart), the Dog, Death, the Hangman and others would perform in the Piazza del Gesù, San Domenico Maggiore, and Porta Capuana, mesmerizing our childish faces, as we stood there, open mouthed, to receive the Creed of our oneiric Bible.

Finally, I would like to recall that even in the traditional repertory of the Guarattelle you can find characters and scenes which appear to be connected to the Jewish tradition, the Spanish tradition, the tradition of the Latin and even the Greek theatre. The term guarattella is the vernacular rendition of bagattella, (a trifling matter) and comes from the word "Bagatto", which is one of the major trumps of the tarot cards, of cabalistic origin and a vehicle of tales and features that we often find in the repertories and outlines of the Guarattella theatre.

I will like to conclude with a touching declaration that I recorded from the voice of the last Neapolitan guarrattellaro of the old tradition, a certain Nunzio Zampella, prematurely passed away, who had in his DNA all the chromosomes of an ancient Pulcinella-style art. Asked how important the use of the pivetta was to a puppeteer, he gave me this answer.  ZAMPELLA: «It is essential. The art of the puppeteer is not easy; the handling can be simple, but the mimicry is musical, the movement is music. The most difficult thing is the double voice that is to alter the natural voice with the artificial one by the use of the pivetta (a sort of whistle). The puppeteer must be able to do all the voices: the Woman, the Carabineer, the Monk, Pulcinella, the Dog and even the voice of Death. But whatever tomfoolery you say in the show it must become rhythm: words are music, movement is rhythm; in this only lies the true strength of theguarattelle». (21 giugno 1975)
*The puppet Pulcinella created in 1620's inspired ten other characters of the European popular theatre that, everyone, knew to entertain their audience and to give him a space of liberty.
I wish you all a fabulous World Puppetry Day!"

Ten Days on the Island

Now imagine this! Ten days on an island off the coast of Turkey in the Aegean Sea, involved in an intensive puppetry workshop being presented by two master- puppeteers from different corners of the world. Çağlayan Sevinçer from Istanbul and Gary Friedman from Melbourne come together on the exotic island of Gökçeada, Turkey, to share their skills and life experience.

This workshop teaches puppetry skills with an emphasis on skilful story telling and delivering a message using the most subtle and basic elements of breath, movement and characterisation, with minimal need for words. This tool is therefore ideal to work across any language, culture or age group.

The workshop is designed for puppeteers, animators, school educators, drama and psychotherapists, community workers, theatre practitioners, as well as anyone interested in using the puppet to communicate a message to change their world.
If you are even vaguely interested, then download the PDF flyer here or check out the full package right here!

Puppets triumph in Kenyan elections

The puppets are the only victors in this year's presidential elections in Kenya. Nearly four years after it was first aired following a long production struggle, Kenya’s controversial TV satire programme “The XYZ Show” is now taking on the presidential and general elections with its characteristic wit and insight.

Puppeteers in lime-green hooded shirts patiently freeze under the blazing studio lights as a team hoists and adjusts impossibly funny loads on their heads. Gloved hands reach overhead and…voilà! Suddenly, a latex puppet springs to life.

“Quiet! I need silence, you guys are just chit-chatting. The puppeteers need to hear playback,” says the floor manager in a remarkably cool tone considering the ruckus around him.

These are just a few of the reflections of the scene taking place currently in Nairobi. It wasn't always like this. In the late-nineties, Eric Krystal of the then Family Planning Private Sector in Kenya flew down to South Africa, where I was then based, to check out our 'Puppets Against Aids' program, which was successfully making its way through Africa. Eric insisted that we come to Kenya to start training local troupes in puppetry and how to put messages across to audiences locally. The rest is history. I am proud to say that the Kenyan puppetry scene is now one of the strongest and most durable in Africa. The puppeteers have gone on to train other puppeteers throughout the region over the past fifteen years and are now taking on the television elections as well.

This is the set of “The XYZ Show”, Kenya’s first-ever satirical puppet TV programme, which lampoons the country’s politicians and fearlessly tackles some of the country’s thorniest issues with side-splitting aplomb.

Days before Kenya’s landmark March 4 polls, the team is recording its election special at a studio in The GoDown Arts Centre in downtown Nairobi. This episode will air on Sunday, the eve of the elections, and there’s a palpable sense of purpose underlining the buzz in the room.

“This is a very critical moment for the show,” says Godfrey Mwampembwa, the programme’s creator and producer.

Mwampembwa – better known as “Gado” across Kenya – pauses briefly as he considers the occasion. “This is what we’ve worked for all these years. This is such an important election. This is such an important year for Kenya. As much as we have pushed for this freedom of expression, a lot more still needs to be done.”

Gado has long known that Kenya had room for a satirical puppet TV show, but it took years to convince others to make it happen.

More than a decade ago, the 44-year-old political cartoonist was struggling to get such a programme on air. In 2003, on a visit to France, he asked his host, the Alliance Française, to set up a visit to Canal Plus, the TV station that broadcasts the satirical puppet show, “Les Guignols de l’info”.

“That visit was discouraging because their operation was so huge and we had nothing,” explains Gado. “But on the other hand, it was also very encouraging because it was like, man, this is great; we must do it.”

Years of hustling passed, including a clumsy attempt to make a puppet in Kenya before Gado managed to send a local sculptor to France for a month-long training session in puppet-making. That trip resulted in a pilot clip that Gado tried to sell to Kenyan TV stations.

In mid-2007, Gado happened to mention his pet project to a French journalist during an interview. “When I saw the pilot, I got it at once, having grown up with the French programme, “Les Guignols de l’info”. That was before the [December] 2007 elections,” said Marie Lora-Mungai, now the executive producer of “The XYZ Show”. 

After a year of fundraising, the first episode finally aired on Kenya’s Citizen TV in May 2009 – to scathing reviews.

“Things were not working well when we started. The animation was not good, the writing was very bad,” laughs Gado, displaying some of the sharp judgment that has helped whip the show to its current standards.

Nearly four years later, “The XYZ Show” has polished its act and is ready to tackle its first elections.

The excitement on the set is now palpable. With the sound rehearsals over, the cameras are ready to roll and the once-raucous room is now silent and concentrated.

“…and action!” says the director.

“This is The XYZ Special,” says a latex TV anchor called “Keff Joinange” - a doppelgänger for seasoned Kenyan journalist, Jeff Koinange. “We are live at the election centre…”

Article: France 24