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!

AIS Puppetry Workshop in Vienna

This 'World of Puppetry' workshop was filmed last month at the American International School in Vienna, Austria, run by Sharon Gelber and myself. It demonstrates the extraordinary puppetry improvisation skills of the students with spontaneous character creation in ten minutes.

In another short film, you can watch here - I'm having fun demonstrating some puppetry improvisation skills for the workshop participants in Vienna. This is part of our European Workshop Tour 2010. Keep tuned for more...

Visit to Balsamique Théâtre in France

On the weekend we had the privilege of visiting my old friend Francois Boulay and his artistic partner, Danish Lone Nedergaard at Le Balsamique théâtre in Feycelles Midi-Pyrénées in southern France. (In the photo - Francois is on the left, Lone in the middle and myself on the right with my son Idan). Next year will be the thirtieth year anniversary of our first International Puppetry Course, the first ever at the Institut International de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mezieres in France. It was during this course in 1981 that Francios and I were exposed to the great masters of European puppetry as our mentors.

You can view some slide shows of the work of Le Balsamique théâtre Métamorphoses and Musique et marionnettes!

Puppetry shows up controversy in South Africa

In the South African world of political controversy, there has recently been a great divide caused by the honorable Judge Richard Goldstone, expected not to attend his grandson’s barmitzvah, because it would draw large protests against his anti-Israel United Nations report. The Chief Rabbi of South Africa Warren Goldstein commented that the UN report "has unfairly done enormous damage to the reputation and safety of the State of Israel and her citizens. " The South African web-based puppetry satire team ZA News recently got their own Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela to comment on this controversy. Tutu quipped "you don't have to be Jewish to be Jewish, but it helps..."

Punch and Judy Annivesary in Covent Garden

In a previous article I wrote in 2005, I recalled my participation in the 325th anniversary of Punch and Judy in Covent Garden, London in 1987. This year on 9 May, the 348th birthday of Mr Punch will be celebrated. It's been so long since the days that Punch and Judy professors, as they are called, roamed the streets of England using their puppets to criticise the powers of the state. Entertainment was, of course, part of the deal, but sadly the political clout of the puppet has all but disappeared.

But if you are around London in early May, do visit the professors strutting their Punches in Covert Garden. Sadly, we will only be in London a little later in May.

Puppetry in Portugal

Today we conducted magical workshops with the talented students of  St Julian's School in Carcavelos in Portugal. The small groups of IB Drama students from years ten and twelve initially created some magical scenarios out of brown paper. These were embellish through the use of voice as their instruments, as no spoken language is used in the story telling. Sounds and song help to bridge gaps and create a universal language when using the metaphor of paper to tell a story.

Two weeks ago we did a week of workshops in Slovenia. These were for students, teachers, puppeteers and professionals who wished to learn more about using puppetry. After Slovenia, we had a few gorgeous days of sightseeing in Venice and Milan, before flying to Lisbon this week.

You can view our American International School Workshop slide show from Vienna here. I still haven't had the time to finish editing the short films we are making of our workshops in Europe this year, so please be patient. More from France next week!

Lone Wolf Tribe in America

Lone Wolf Tribe is a contemporary puppet theatre ensemble in the United States, which according to their blurb 'blends history, sociology and psychology into brutally poetic contemporary narratives'. Their production of 'Bride' caught my eye this morning here in Slovenia, while looking on the UNIMA USA web site. 

While God the Father struggles with dementia, the dismembered Mother Goddess crawls through the dark of heaven's basement; calls for salvation go unanswered as the world below spins closer toward Armageddon. Bride remembers the bloody shift from polytheism to monotheism, conjuring a 4,000 year old love story whose partnership has been long forgotten, and whose union may be our only hope. Although it seems a bit gloomy for my taste, the puppetry used in this production seems varied and inspiring.

Workshops in Vienna

Our first two weeks in Europe were spent in Vienna. We ran workshops at both the Vienna Inter- national School and the American International School all of last week. During our three days of workshops at the VIS, besides our paper and object improvisation, we also ran a short puppetry for film workshop with film students. On Friday we ran paper workshops at the American International School. The participants were IB theatre students from years eleven and twelve and their creativity was extraordinary. I am working on a short film of their work which I'll post as soon as it's done.

This week we are working in Slovenia. Based in Velenje, we are working with schools, teachers and puppeteers throughout Slovenia, before heading to Italy. Keep tuned for our news on the road!

Easter Bunny Muppet Special

The gruesome Easter Bunny has finally been released. Instead of eating chocolate Easter eggs, it feasts on cute little bunnies. How grotesque! Wishing you all a bunny-free Easter. Enjoy.