The Chalk Giants

Today I discovered an visually exciting looking production which is opening at the Norwich Puppet Theatre, UK in two days time. It features a well-known young British puppeteer, Steve Tiplady, artistic director of the Little Angel Marionette Theatre in London. Steve has been integrally involved in the growth of adult puppet theatre in the UK over the past few years.

The Chalk Giants begins in the present with a film of puppeteers Sally Brown and Steve Tiplady and musician Jonathan Lambert on a nature walk at Hunstanton as they invite the audience to come with them on a tour through the ancient landscape of England. The production uses film shot at significant sites along the chalk escarpment which traverses southern England to tell parts of the story and to bring the landscape to life. I wish we could watch some of that now!

The production opens with the creation of Jack, a puppet drawn in chalk which magically comes to life, and the discovery of some beans that are, of course, also made from chalk. At first, this appears to be the familiar tale of Jack and the Bean Stalk but soon it becomes apparent that there is a twist to the tale. Jack kills Blunderbog Cormoran, the giant at the top of the beanstalk, and begins a quest to rid England of giants. A fun, fast and furious tale ensues with Jack slaying giants across the land. However, is Jack the hero of the day? Blunderbog’s distraught wife and a wonderfully sensitive narrative leave the audience to decide.

The new production combines chalk together with shadow puppetry, a toy theatre, rod puppets, pre-recorded and live film, to give a cutting-edge contemporary performance of a traditional tale steeped in legend and imbued with a sense of England’s past. Guyanese-born poet, John Agard, has been specially commissioned to write a collection of narrative poems, dialogues and scenes, which are threaded through the story and add another layer of richness to the show. The Chalk Giants is beautifully augmented with music by Jonathan Lambert. The folk-influenced musical accompaniment adds vibrancy and an additional dimension to the production. Jonathan performs his compositions on clarinet, bamboo flute, and appropriately, a xylophone made from stone. Ancient lithophone sounds from a cave at Skiddaw in the Lake District are woven in and there are songs ideal for audience participation.
The production will also perform at the Edinburgh Festival next month. Wish I could be there! For details check here!

What, Adult Puppetry on the BBC?

Animal puppet sex on a British adult TV sitcom? I was quite tickled today to discover 'Mongrels' about a metrosexual urban fox called Nelson. It's a new BBC adult puppet television series that began in the past week. Andy Miller, director and creator of the 'Mongrels' has written a blog about his adventures in creating this innovative puppet series here. You can also view some of the 'Mongrels' episodes on Andy's blog post too!

You can find the series details on the BBC Three website here. Unfortunately due to international copyright restrictions, the webcasts are limited to the UK.

Interplanetary Puppetry from Connecticut

Some of the America's leading puppeteers gathered in Connecticut in the United States over the past week. The group gathered at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford on a large estate with four theaters and participants ate and slept there, generally working twenty-four hours a day.

Some of the best-known American puppeteers attended, like Alissa Hunnicutt, Heather Henson, Fred Thompson, Pam Arciero,  Miguel Romero, Bart Roccoberton Jr and Muppet master, Marty Robinson.
You can join the O'Neill National Puppetry Conference Facebook Page here!
NPR Radio broadcast a great report on the puppetry conference, which you can listen to here!

World Cup Soccer Final Puppets

Throughout our recent International Tour, I've briefly followed the news and heard many reports on the current World Cup Soccer in South Africa. As reported in Puppetry News on 14 June and now on CNN, the World Cup Soccer puppets (click here) have taken South Africa by storm. The giant puppets are a Franco-South-African project presented by the Gauteng Provincial Government, and the French Institute of South Africa together with the group 'Les Grandes Personnes' from Burkina Faso. They have announced that they will make a guest appearance at the World Cup Final at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on 11 July.

Giant Puppet in Old City of Jerusalem

The Old City of Jerusalem is a fascinating place with its mixture of cultures, foods, religions and languages all bound by its ancient walls. What you wouldn't expect to find is a wondering giant puppet. Last night while taking in a visual display of sounds and lights in the Old City, I stumbled upon Meir the Giant. Created by young Israeli artists, Michal Ben-Anat and Oded Davidovitch, Meir has emotional perception and his heart beat and blushing is controlled by the main puppeteer, who manipulates the head. It was quite fascinating to watch the Giant interacting with the crowds and seeing his emotions through the coloured lights inside his body. You can watch a video clip of Meir the Giant here!

Muppet Workshops in Atlanta

It only came to my attention today, thanks to a great post by Puppatoons in the States, that renowned Mupeteer Steve Whitmire held two fascinating workshops at the Centre for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta in January. Whitmire took over performing Kermit the Frog when Jim Henson passed away in 1990. (For those of you who've already seen the post, apologies for the repeat). The notes by Puppatoons seem extremely interesting to anyone involved in puppetry for the screen.

In Steve Swanson's weekly podcast MuppetCast, both Part One and Part Two the workshops were wonderfully covered, together with an interview with Steve Whitmire in Part Two.

Puppetry and the World Cup.. at last!

How on earth could the Soccer World Cup relate to African puppetry? In the past few days, the world has become obsessed with soccer. I am in Israel this week, on the last leg of our European Workshop Tour for 2010, before returning to Australia and I was waiting to find a puppetry group who would relate to the major events taking place right now in South Africa!

Finally the email came through from South African photographer Gisele Wulfsohn and the article was there!  The Giant Match is a bigger-than-life show played outdoor by 28 four-metre high puppets and dozens of masks and objects complete with storytellers and musicians.

Involving over 100 South African actors, musicians, dancers, puppeteers, visual artists and craftsmen from various communities around Johannesburg, as well as international artists from France, Burkina Faso, Italy and Chile, this new and unique show was initiated in the context of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.  It's a Franco-South-African project presented by the Gauteng Provincial Government, and the French Institute of South Africa together with the group 'Les Grandes Personnes' from Burkina Faso.

You can watch a clip of their work here!

New Puppetry Commercial rips off Royal de Luxe

It was a strange surprise to see the new commercial for Mayflower Transit made in the United States this month. It copies exactly the extraordinary giant puppetry produced by the well-known French puppet company Royal de Luxe. The commercial, produced for the Grey Agency in New York was done by The Character Shop in California. The gigantic puppet of the young girl is well made and manipulated by master puppeteer, Rick Lazzarini.  Lazzarini, together with The Character Shop created the commercials for Orbitz, which ripped-off the BBC television series in the sixties Thunderbirds. Check out the commercial and you be the judge.
On the Mayflower site, you can view a few different versions of this commercial.

Extraordinary War Horse last night

Joey, the main horse from War Horse leading the Royal Household Cavalry in a Royal Salute past the Queen at the Windsor Castle

Since arriving in London this week, the highlight of our visit has been attending a performance of War Horse at the New London Theatre last night. After two sold-out seasons at the National Theatre, War Horse moved to the New London Theatre and it continues to play to full houses every night. The National Theatre together with Handspring Puppet Company in South Africa produced the show in 2007 and the extraordinary horse puppets were designed and built by puppet-master, Adrian Kohler.

A few birds, a goose and a handful of horses make up the puppet cast, which are joined by a large human cast in the show. From the moment the goose waddles on to the stage, you can see the wonderful puppetry skills that Handspring have imparted. When Joey, the young foal, makes his first appearance, the three young puppeteers breathe in unison, which really breathes life into this young horse and the illusion is complete. The breath, sounds, together with ear and tail movement give the horses an extraordinary life that makes one believe that it's actually the horses manipulating the puppeteers and not the other way round. As strange as this might sound, it's very difficult to believe that they are puppets at all.

Set in the backdrop of World War 1, this powerful story is carried by great performances and manipulation, which together, produce the best piece of theatre I have seen for a very long time.
Steven Spielberg has apparently chosen War Horse to be his next film, which is due for production next year and this seems to be when the live production will open at the Lincoln Centre on Broadway.

“This level of puppetry hasn’t been seen on Broadway before, and this is what audiences are going to find riveting,” said Handspring's Basil Jones, last year, in an interview here.

You can watch the trailer here and the making of War Horse here and a Channel 4 report here!

TV Puppetry from a Norway Fjord

When I was invited, late last year, to spend a week teaching television puppetry to a group of enthusiastic puppeteers in Kinsarvik, a tiny town in the fjords of western Norway, I keenly accepted and planned this into our European Workshop Tour for 2010. Last weekend we flew from Toulouse in southern France, via Paris and Oslo to Bergen, which took an entire day. We were picked up in Bergen by our host from a small theme park, Mikkelparken and Hardangertun holiday resort and driven the three-hours north-east to Kinsarvik in the land where the sun set at eleven at night. Mikkelparken had a set of great puppet characters developed and these were performed at the theme park in summer. My task was to assist them in developing this project for eventual television broadcast and to improve the professionalism of their live performances. It was fascinating listening to the folktales they had developed and brainstorming how these could be transformed to the small screen.

Kinsarvik (with a population of 459) is the most idyllic place to work and holiday. Our week in Kinsarvik was fantastic. We are now in Bergen for two days, before we fly to London. Stay tuned for more!