Out the Box Festival - African Puppetry Hit

Having just wrapped up the biggest festival of Puppetry and Visual Theatre on the African continent, Out of the Box continues to inspire and attract new puppeteers. Not only does UNIMA South Africa host the festival but it also ensures there is a developmental aspect - such as ongoing education in the field of puppetry.

At the opening, The Handspring Puppet Company, made the unprecedented announcement that they would be handing out annual awards for productions at Out the Box at the end of the festival.

The festival included an adult and a family programme bursting with local productions and international offerings from Israel, the Netherlands, Mozambique and Belgium.

Highlights included Inua, a production by Jori Snell from Denmark and the Netherlands. Snell's physicality is astounding, as is the production's magical realism in its storytelling and use of music as she looks for the essence, the 'Inua' of things, through creative use of light and shadows. Out the Box 2010 provides an inspiring journey into the rich world of puppetry and visual performance that South Africa has to offer. I'm only sorry I couldn't be there for it this year!

Artists in Residency Puppetry Program Interview

After two month's of daily workshops in three North Sydney schools, the Artists in Residency Puppetry Program has finally come to an end. During the workshops at Curl Curl North Public School, Assistant Principal, Ms Jan Warhurst, was interviewed and in this short film she discusses her feelings about the project and what she believes makes this type of work important in stimulating the creativity of both students and teachers. The project is a creative partnership between Sydney North Demonstration School, Gary Friedman Productions, The Department of Education and Training, The Australia Council and Arts NSW.

Our next project begins in Vienna at the end of next week. Keep tuned for our regular European tour reports!

Curl Curl School Puppetry Project 2010

After two months of work with these young people, with very limited exposure to basic puppetry skills, the students blossomed at our school performances at Curl Curl North Public School last week. Using only simple brown paper and common household objects with no spoken language, the children created elaborate stories where the power of their entire imagination was harnessed.

Their work took them on a creative journey, which combined the power of Brain Gym with some dance and movement, a guided meditation, some improvisation work with brown paper, in which characters emerge to relate their non-verbal stories and lastly object theatre work, which take the children's stories into yet another dimension.

We are about to embark on a three-month European Workshop Tour next month. This will take us through Austria, Slovenia, Portugal, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Hungary and the Middle East. Keep tuned to Puppetry News for regular updates and news from the road.

PS. Last but not least 'Happy World Puppetry Day' for today. World Puppetry Day is celebrated with an objective to preserve and popularise the art of puppetry around the world. This year there are events planned in India, an International Festival in Istanbul, Turkey and UNIMA's news here!

Ted E Bare's Retirement Tour in Australia

Fresh from a recent tour of New Zealand, popular American ventriloquist David Strassman is touring Australia with his Ted E Bare's Farewell Tour in May this year.

I am not sure who we are bidding farewell to, because according to David's recent interview on New Zealand television, the farewell to the Bear is just a publicity stunt, because the Bear never really leaves the show.

A star-studded tribute to Ted E. Bare’s greatest show biz moments, “Ted E.’s Farewell Tour” will follow Strassman’s journey of discovery to replace the irreplaceable little bear. This moving, hilarious and wild ride will feature the razor sharp wit of Chuck Wood we have all come to fear, as well as uncover some new and extraordinary characters desperate to join the show in a hilarious “You’ve Got Talent- Puppet Edition” segment.

David Strassman is considered by many to be one of the best ventriloquists in the world. His shows are hilariously funny and razor sharp, featuring full stage production complete with dazzling sets and state-of- the-art theatrical effects. You can catch his Australian Tour in either Queensland, South Australia, Victoria or New South Wales and the dates are up on his website here.

Message for World Puppetry Day

UNIMA General Secretary, Jacques Trudeau has posted a message by the renowned theatre director, Robert Lepage, written especially for World Puppetry Day on 21 March 2010. Versatile in every form of theatre craft, Robert Lepage creates and directs original productions that shake the dogma of classical stage direction to its foundations, especially through his use of puppetry and new technologies.

“Like many people, I was profoundly affected by the earthquake which has recently devastated Haiti. Looking at the images constantly relayed on television and on the web I asked myself, among all the mediums of the performing arts, which would be the most effective for expressing the human dimension of such a cataclysm? Which medium would best evoke compassion without descending into mere pity, to inspire solidarity without being moralizing, and which would be best able to provoke in our own body an echo of the physical pain of the wounds and amputations?

In fact, I asked myself how one could transpose onto a stage not only the grief of the Haitian people, but equally their resilience which both moves and inspires us at the same time?

It seemed to me that the puppet would be the best medium to convey this tragedy. Its powerlessness, its vulnerability, but in equal measure the force of its purity and its innocence combine to create a link both intimate and unique with the spectator. Such solidarity probably arises from the major advantage it holds over the human theatre and the cinema: the actor plays a part, the puppet is always true.

In contrast to the actor, the cruelties done to the puppet are not feigned and when its strings are cut, when it is beaten, ridiculed, humiliated, ill-treated or dismembered, it never complains. It is repaired, re-pasted and once again it is on its feet, as good as new.

This truth endows the puppets with a magnificent power, since they seem at the same time to be capable of facing up to the outrages of destiny and to possess the courage needed to rebuild a world in ruins."
Robert Lepage, Quebec

To view some of Lepage's work, take a look here and discussions with him here!

Beaker dies on the net

After month's of secret rehearsals, Beaker has finally persuade Disney Studios to let him post his new song 'Dust in the Wind' onto You Tube. As expected, the song has finally killed his blossoming singing career. Check it out!