Directors and Puppets: Questions To Ask Yourself

Emma Williams – key questions when starting to direct a puppetry project

The Puppet

Why am I using a puppet?  Is it justified?  

If the processes begins with a puppet I start by watching it and ask simply – What does it do well and where are its limits?

If starting with a script I ask – What does the puppet have to do to make the play work?  If the list is too long I go back to the drawing board.  Monster puppets are born out of ridiculous expectations unless budget, time and skill are limitless.

The Puppeteers

Am I asking the audience to ignore the puppeteers or see them? If they are visible what is their relationship to the puppet and how does it change and develop in line with the narrative.

Are the puppeteers in my head when I am planning a scene? How many do I need to make it work? And what will the puppet look like when surrounded by these people?

I work for a number of different companies so I also have to ask- Do I need the puppet to work perfectly here, does the puppeteer have to deliver skill and finesse or do I need it to be scruffy and playful where the puppeteer is committed but irreverent.

Because of a few painful moments in the past I now ask Is there any climbing, walking, eating or crying involved?  What is so simple for an actor is sometimes unfathomably difficult and time consuming for a puppet. On the plus side what is impossible for an actor, for example being ripped apart and your body parts waltzing around the room, is an absolute gift for a well designed puppet. 

You can find out more about Emma and her work here

Emma Williams will lead a Directing Puppetry Workshop and Surgery for Directors on Saturday 10 May in Bristol. To find out more visit our website or call us on 0117 29 3593

How To Hack Your Trash aka Instant Puppets

26 April sees Chris Pirie from Green Ginger present the day long version of his Trash Hack workshop. For those of you scratching your head over the concept of rummaging in the bin to create a puppet, think animated up-cycling. This is what Chris has to say about it:

What is a Trash Hack?

Trash Hack re-purposes domestic and industrial junk to create fantastical instant creatures. We then pull them apart to build another.

Do you have a favourite Trash Hack Creature?

“Not really. I really enjoy the energy and the creativity that is sparked by the fast pace of decision making, the creatures are always surprising. I bring a huge collection of junk that I know really well to the sessions. Every time I think that all the possibilities have been exhausted, someone comes up with something new. A recent discovery was a part of an espresso coffee maker: it usually becomes a head, but someone used it to create the locomotion for their creature, I had never seen that before and it worked really well.”

What if someone can’t make it to the workshop on 26 April – how do they do a trash hack for themselves?

“Grab an object, anything that appeals. Really explore the object, get a sense of its texture, what noises it makes, what movements does it have.

See how the object walks along the floor and gets up onto a tabletop. Grab another object, explore how it works with the first object to make limbs and create a torso.

You can use some instant fixings such as gaffa tape, sellotape, rubber bands etc to join the objects together to create a new creature – anything that you can reverse, deconstruction is as important as construction.

Find out how this creature walks, how it talks to other creatures. Dare to fail, make mistakes, go up blind alleys. You can do it on your own, but it’s definitely more fun with friends. There is no right or wrong, just have a go!”

Trash Hack with Chris Pirie

26 April 10am-5pm  The Elephant Room, Dean Lane Bristol

To book click here or call 0117 929 3593

A Blagger’s Guide to Technical Riders or Making Sure Your Wires Don’t Get Crossed.

To be honest, this is a subject close to my heart. As someone who has worked with touring theatre companies and programmes Festivals, the technical rider is one of the first documents I need to help decide how to tour a show across the country or how to programme a show in a Festival. It’s no good having a brilliant piece of theatre or puppetry if it doesn’t fit in the venue. Once negotiated, the technical rider should form part of any contract between a touring company (whether a solo performer or company of 50) and a venue. Touring

Companies may need to provide specialised equipment as part of their touring kit, some venues may be able to support unusual requests but will re-charge costs to the company (this is usually known as a contra). Some technical riders may be so simple and straightforward that all the information can fit on a postage stamp.

However, the more technical information about a show that a company can provide up front, the better the experience will be on the performance day. Now, I am neither a theatre technician or stage manager, so that is about the extent of my knowledge. At this point I’d like to introduce Nic Prior into the conversation. Nic is our Production Manager for Bristol Festival of Puppetry and will be leading this session.

“What I’ve noticed with puppetry companies is that, usually, there is often either a small team or just one person doing everything. Often the performers will also be doing the marketing, driving the van, making the puppets and being the main venue contact. People find themselves needing a whole variety of skills to take their show on the road. The technical requirements of a production can often be a key part of the negotiation process, both financially and logistically. Naturally the more complex the technical rider the more negotiation is often needed. Having been on both sides, sending out technical riders and receiving them, there is some information that all riders need to contain and some thinking about show requirements that can help companies get the best out of a venue.

Each show is different and it’s a tough job when you are doing it all, this session is really for those companies and artists (non-puppeteers are welcome!) who find themselves in that position. I’m really happy for people to send in current riders that they are working on so that we can discuss them or come with specific questions. This is an informal round-table discussion. The idea is that by the end everyone feels they have a better understanding of the kind of information to include and how the technical rider forms part of the contract negotiations.”

I would like to add that Nic is very good at making technical theatre speak understandable to the non-technically minded. I know this from personal experience working on the Festival. There have been at least two occasions when he has had to resort to mime to communicate key concepts to me!

Rachel

A Blagger’s Guide to Technical Riders

Wed 19 February 6.39-9.30pm Puppet Place 0117 929 3593

£15 / £10 Members  (please call if you are a member or use the link above)

What’s Coming Up This Weekend?

Puppet Place’s Workshop Programme kicks off tonight with Chris Pirie from Green Ginger leading the first Puppet Surgery of the year. This is a chance to talk puppets, drink tea and get some advice and help on all those little problems that crop up in a make. 

Although we generally ask people to book in advance, we’ve had a few spaces crop up last minute so if you’ve hit a wall with your puppet creation bring it along to Puppet Place at 6.30pm tonight (30 January) and we’ll see if we can help. (£15 / £10 members)

Then this Saturday Tobi Poster from Wattle & Daub Figure Theatre will be leading our first one day workshop Introducing The Basics of Puppetry at the Brewery Studio in Bristol

When asked the question, “So what’s it all about then?”, Tobi very graciously did not refer me to the title of the workshop, but sent me this email giving a bit more information about what you can expect and his take on puppetry:

“The session will give participants a grounding in single and multiple operator direct manipulation (bunraku style) puppets, all of which will be constructed in-class from easily available and inexpensive materials.

We’ll also be taking a look at the complicite techniques and body awareness necessary to operate puppets in a group, and exploring fruitful starting points for improvising and devising with puppets. It might sound like a lot in one day on paper, but more than anything it’s a chance to have fun playing with all these elements.

 My puppetry and teaching pedagogy has its roots in clown, so there will be a particular focus on the connection between puppet and audience, and how we can play with that connection in performance. And there will be puppet dancing!

 Every time I run this workshop I’m amazed by what participants come up with, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes out of the workshop on Saturday.”

We’ve still got a couple of spaces left for Tobi’s workshop on Saturday so if you are interested call us on 0117 929 3593 or email victoria@puppetplace.org

Our full workshop programme can be found here

Rachel

Ulrike Quade launches intensive Bunraku puppet making classes

 

The Ulrike Quade Company, who have performed shows at the last two BFPs, are looking for visual artists interested in developing puppet making skills in the Japanese Bunraku puppet tradition.

This intensive two-week workshop in Amsterdam is an opportunity to make a fully functioning puppet under the guidance of master puppet-maker Watanabe Kazunori. The finished puppets will be presented during the Pop Arts Festival in Amsterdam in February 2014.

Osaka is home to the oldest Bunraku theatre in Japan. Located in the heart of the modern entertainment district, the vibrant life of the city contrasts starkly with the traditional culture of Bunraku. This classical Japanese theatrical form has its origins in the seventeenth century and is protected as world heritage by UNESCO.

In Bunraku theatre, three players manipulate each puppet. This requires close collaboration and a high level of coordination and skill. While the puppets are almost exclusively used in traditional Bunraku theatre in Japan, they also lend themselves to movements reminiscent of animation, modern dance and games. Ulrike Quade seeks to develop new theatrical forms by exploring, in a number of different ways, the relationship of historical traditions. In 2012, Ulrike Quade and Nicole Beutler created Antigone, a movement-based performance involving three Bunraku puppets.

The heads, hands and feet of Bunraku puppets are made of wood. A costume-covered mechanism completes the whole. The faces are traditionally stipulated by the choice of text. Workshop participants will be able to experiment with the different degrees of freedom that might be taken within the strict framework of the Bunraku tradition.

During the OSAKA project, Japanese master puppet-maker Watanabe Kazunori will teach ten artists/art students how to make Bunraku puppets.

The objective of the workshop is to make a complete, fully functioning puppet. The workshop concludes with a presentation and evaluation session during the Amsterdam Pop Arts Festival, which runs concurrently. A follow-up to the OSAKA project will take place in 2015, when a number of the puppets will be developed and a performance prepared.

The workshop takes place in Amsterdam between 27 January and 8 February 2014, and concludes with a presentation on 9 February 2014. Times: 10.00-17.00. Fee:400 euro (lunch included), discount possible for students. Register for the workshop via this link. http://www.ulrikequade.nl/theater/?page_id=3347

The Ulrike Quade Company produces visual theatre performances under the artistic direction of Ulrike Quade (b. 1971, Neuss). In search of new theatrical forms, the Ulrike Quade Company often works on (inter) national coproductions with other artists and institutions, including the Jo Strømgren Kompani and Nicole Beutler Projects. With an impressive command of performance and technique, the company brings handmade human figures to life. Every production takes a new perspective on people and their surroundings as its central theme. Quade makes theatre that is committed and layered, but also surprisingly elegant, surreal, ironic and poetic.