With registrations about to close next week, our 'International Puppetry for TV and Web Course' to take place from 4 to 14 January 2010 in Sydney, is filling up fast.
Participants will work with professional puppeteers & cinematographers in:Designing and constructing puppets for the screen; Developing character personality & voice characterization; Manipulation techniques for the camera; Improvisation skills; Directing short scenarios for performances; Editing episodes for webcast and developing a dedicated puppetry ‘You Tube’ channel.
Venue: Wesley Institute, Sydney AustraliaNew Dates: 4 - 14 January 2010 (full-time) Cost: Aus $1,300- Excl Accommodation / Aus $1,790- Incl Accommodation, excluding meals BOOKINGS DEADLINE: 30 September 2009 For more information or to book click here!
Alexander Calder was a great American artist of the twentieth century. His paintings, jewelry, lithographs, toys and performances continue to inspire the world, so many years after his passing in November 1976. Although he was probably best known for inventing the mobile, his wonderful circus performances continue to inspire puppeteers even today. My fist memories of Calder go back to my student days in France in the early eighties. As a student at the Institute International de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mezieres, I used to spend many weekends researching the work of Calder and his colleagues at the Centre Pompidou library in Paris. They even had an old film of the magical Calder Circus. Today thanks to You Tube, we no longer have to go to the library in Paris, but can discover these great artists in the comfort of our own homes.
While living and working in Paris, Alexander Calder met and became friends with a number of avant-garde artists, including Joan Miró, Jean Arp, and Marcel Duchamp. A visit to Piet Mondrian's studio in 1930 "shocked" him into embracing abstract art.
The Calder Circus can be seen as the start of Calder's interest in both wire sculpture and kinetic art. He maintained a sharp eye with respect to the engineering balance of the sculptures and utilized these to develop the kinetic sculptures Duchamp would ultimately dub as "mobiles," a French pun meaning both "mobile" and "motive." He designed some of the characters in the circus to perform suspended from a thread. However, it was the mixture of his experiments to develop purely abstract sculpture following his visit with Mondrian that lead to his first truly kinetic sculptures, manipulated by means of cranks and pulleys.
When a Broadway musical makes puppets its stars and wins the Tony Award for the best musical, Corporate Creatures Business News interviewer Con Quest needs to find out more. This week Con interviewed the stars of Avenue Q Australia, Mitchell Butel who plays Rod and Princeton and Luke Joslin who plays Nicky and Trekkie at the Theatre Royal in Sydney to find out the secret behind these magical puppets that are taking the world by storm. And by pure coincidence after more than six years on Broadway, the original Avenue Q production will close on Broadway today, but the Australian production will run for another year. You can find out more infohere!
Launching on the world-wide web tomorrow is a new puppet infomercial 'The Click Daly Show' produced by See3 Communications in Chicago and Corporate Creatures in Sydney for the Case Foundation. The short film discusses the importance of social media in creating world-wide awareness for the NGO and non-profit sector. The Case Foundation invests in individuals, nonprofits, and social enterprises aiming to connect people, increase giving, and catalyze civic action in the United States.
The 'The Click Daly Show'was shot in a green screen studio in Sydney and post-production was completed in Chicago. Enjoy!
A 287 year old gnome from the North West of England was chosen to appear and tell stories to the public in Trafalgar Square in London last Sunday. It was frightening experience for young Thurtinkle Garnetgetter, when he made his appearance in front of thousands of people high up on the Plinth, competing with many other famous storytellers inhabiting the Square, like Lord Nelson, who refused to comment.
Thurtinkle has told stories at the Glastonbury Festival, The SPARK International Children’s Festival, Bath Theatre Royal, Oxford Playhouse and the Lyric Hammersmith among many others and is already famous amongst young theatregoers.
The appearance of this now famous gnome was produced by DNA Puppetry and Visual Theatre and the Sky Arts channel who hosted the live webstream. You can watch young Thurtinkle here!
I'm sure that most of you guys were brought up on a daily diet of Sesame Street. Well unfortunately I wasn't, because we never had television in South Africa when I was growing up. But as soon as I was eventually introduced to it, I loved it and I'm sure my little boy will benefit by Sesame Street very soon too. Last Sunday the winners of the 36th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards were televised live on The CW Television Network from the historic Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.
The telecast specifically honoured 'Sesame Street' with the “Lifetime Achievement Emmy® Award - “On the occasion of Sesame Street’s 40th anniversary, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences proudly honors the acclaimed series as a pioneer of the contemporary standard, and presents this Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of its place as the most highly regarded and most watched educational television show for children around the world." Thanks to Puppeteers Unite!
In 2005, I was fortunate enough to attend the Silkeborg Puppet Theatre Festival. It was a very special trip flying into Copenhagen from Krakow and getting a train to north-western Denmark for this Festival of Wonder. The highlight of the festival in 2005, for me, was surely the production of young Danish puppeteer, Sofie Krogwith 'Diva'. It was also a hit at the UNIMA 2008 Festival in Perth.
This year's Festival of Wonder runs from 12 - 15 November for those of you going to be in Denmark. It promises to be an action packed event in which Sofie is opening her new tense cartoon drama 'The House'. The family occupying the old crumbling down house, in which all their secrets are hidden, also happen to own the local funeral company. Watch out for this!
Other interesting productions I discovered on the program include Figurentheater Tübingen, 'Salto Lamento'; The Forman Brother's Obludarium - A Magical Monster Tour and Theare Wilde & Vogel's 'Spleen'. I am really sorry that I won't be in Europe for the festival this year, but if you are able to attend, it's a great puppetry event and shouldn't be missed.
