Marionettes in Strasbourg!

Kay and Celia recently had an outing in Strasbourg, France for some street puppetry. The 'stage' was a bridge nearby La Petite France (a quaint area in downtown Strasbourg with cobble stone streets and flavours of yesteryear). Celia performed her marionette piece (The Beat'Box) for an encouraging audience of passers-by (many of whom were in the area to enjoy the famous Christmas markets). Even with the cold winter weather and light rain, the show was well received. Go Celia! Well Done!

Rajasthani 'Wooden Dolls'

These are some pictures from a street marionette performance that I've had the chance to watch in India. They are main characters of the Rajasthani tradition which locally called Kathpulti (wooden dolls).

Peter's Rod Puppet Progress

This is Peter's rod piece thus far. He has also drawn up a script and storyboard. Way to go, Peter!

"Prisoner 61, This Is Your Life" Script by Peter Provis

The Storyboard

Bea's Rod Puppet Progress

Over the weekend some of the London students also worked on their rod pieces. Here are some pictures of Bea's progress:

A close-up of "The Driftwood Boy"

Bea operating her puppet

Marionette Madness Continues in London

The London students continue to progress in their marionette pieces. This weekend they worked on operating the puppets, as well as doing some more movement work with Wendy Cook.

Klaus, Angeliki and Peter operating their puppet sequences on a grid.

Introducing the London Marionettes:

Without further ado, here are the marionettes made by the London students Angeliki, Klaus and Peter. We look forward to seeing their progress!

Angeliki's puppet (who is affectionately known as "Pantaloni", which means 'trousers' in Italian)

Klaus's puppet

Peter's puppet

Article review by Natalia

Mendus, Clive. The art of manipulation.

In: Puppetry into performance - a user's guide.

The article is written by Clive Mendus, who works with the Theatre de Complicite, and has as a main influence his teacher Jacques Lecoq. In the article, the author talks about his experience in learning and making theatre, always referring to his influences and Lecoq’s methods.
I find this article useful for puppeteers because it brings a perspective of a theater actor about puppetry – and not a specific puppeteer about his job – and how it is important for an actor to have the skill of manipulate a puppet. Puppetry and theatre are strongly connected, after all puppeteering is a way of making theatre.
The author says that, as actors and performers, they seek to reconnect with qualities of the child behavior like “openness, responsiveness, playfulness, imagination etc”. He says that a child plays with the facing reality to better understand their own place in life, and that is something to be used in puppetry. He also brings the relationship between masks and puppets. He says that when an actor uses a mask he has to act with much more intensity than when he doesn’t uses. What happens is an extension of the quality of the action combined with an economy of the movement.
So, I believe that the article is useful because it brings up references, experiences and comments about the acting with puppets by actors, how this way of acting pushes the actor to a higher quality of performance, and how the ability of giving life to an object is a high skill for a performer.

The image for this post is from Complicite's recent production of "A Disappearing Number" (it is currently touring in Sydney).

"Marionette and the Actor" Mini Course a success

On Monday 24th - Wednesday 26th November, the school ran a mini course in London exploring "The Marionette and the Actor". This course was also linked with the Su4 marionette module and its theme of Futurism.

Edward Gordon Craig thought that every actor and opera singer should train using a marionette- he thought it was a way of making the artist less egoistic and to make his/her work more sincere. Under this premise, this 3 day course was designed for actors and puppeteers alike to train with marionettes. The course explored kinaesthetics, the movement and muscle memory of the artist and how this enables him/her to develop puppet action. We worked with music, marionettes and the vital principles of marionette work.

Under the influence of Futurism, we created short, dramatic scenes using stringed everyday objects. Through this exercise, we learned (among other things) the importance of giving each character enough time to be introduced to the audience; of balancing action and voice in a group piece (making sure characters don't dominate over others); and the importance of pauses.

This is a crawling exercise we did, which also involved overcoming obstacles (quite literally).


Wendy Cook led us through some movement exercises exploring different actions in our own bodies, which we then transferred to our puppets (this often involved modifying/reinterpreting our actions to better suit the marionettes' abilities). We then worked individually and in small groups to create short sequences of actions.

On the last day of the course, we invited members of the public to come and view our work. Some of the London students did a short skit demonstrating skills they had learned during the mini course, and the diploma students performed their solo pieces. This final puppet performance was also the 'final curtain' to our module. We can all say that we have worked very hard, learned a great deal, and had a lot of fun along the way!

A Theatre Outing to Remember: War Horse

A few of us went to see "War Horse" at the Royal National Theatre on Monday night. It has been the most succesful show in RNT history, and has sold out every performance - making it even more of a treat to see it! The true highlight of the show is the puppetry (especially the life-sized horses), all of which was orchestrated by the Handspring Puppet Company.

Here is a short summary of the plot:
At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. he's soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man's land. But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist, he embarks on a treacherous mission to find him and bring him home.

We lined up outside the theatre at 6.30am (for those who are unfamiliar with the RNT, the theatre has about 30 tickets reserved for every performance at only £10 per ticket. They only go on sale on the day of the performance, at 9.30am - with tickets limited to 2 per person. The earlier you queue up, the better - make sure you wear plenty of warm clothes! We had a sleeping bag, hot water bottle, mini blanket and coffee... and we were still cold). Despite the freezing conditions we put ourselves through in the queue, we all agreed it was well worth it. We had front row seats (centre), which was the perfect viewpoint for seeing the puppets being operated.

For those in London and enthusiastic about puppetry, this is definitely a show not to be missed. You have until January 24th 2009 to go and see it (and we thoroughly recommend you do!)

Article Review by Kay

Gordon Craig’s Concept of the Actor:

An article by Charles R. Lyons (1964)

Article Overview
The article gives an overview following Edward Gordon Craig’s changing (and at times polarised) sentiments towards the actor over 3 decades. Craig was an actor, producer, director and drama theorist who became dissatisfied with actors because of their egos (which he believed interfered with the director’s vision), and their undisplined/limited range of movement (which he partially blamed on the spiritual state of all human beings as figures ‘fallen from Grace’ and thus unable to achieve perfection). Out of this frustration, this modernist theatre practitioner called for the actor to be replaced by the ‘uber-marionette’ as the ideal instrument of perfect movement (primarily that of symbolical gesture). On that note, it is understandable why Craig was so influential for the Futurists.

The article also mentions two of Craig’s other significant theories, which he held in constant tension. There was the Durable Theatre, which was a theatre of rigid convention, where the movements and gesture are established, traditional and therefore ‘beyond criticism’ (e.g. Japanese Noh theatre). The concept relates to Da Vinci’s imperative to “Shun those studies in which the result dies with the worker”. The other concept was the Perishable Theatre, where the actor would become the creative force, with spontaneous creation, improvisation of words, movement and possibly music.

How is it useful to puppeteers?
I found this article useful for seeing the context surrounding Craig’s theory of the uber-marionette, though I would look at other sources (including Craig’s essays!) for more details and insight into the theory itself. Although there were some points that I found relevant as a puppeteer, I think this article is primarily written for stage directors and actors.

That said, it is still valuable to reflect on puppets as instruments for movement. Craig himself emphasised that movement is the primary source of expression in art. Puppets indeed can move in ways that even the most athletic performer cannot. In that respect, we must be careful not to let our operating become too naturalistic, but perhaps the opposite – let puppets do what they do best (and not act like people, or else this would lose the point of using puppets in the first place).

Finally, we can take Craig’s exaltation to heart that it is “our supreme honour to be ministers to the supreme force – movement”.

Lyons, C. R. (1964). Gordon Craig’s Concept of the Actor. Educational Theatre Journal, 16(3), 258-269.

Book review by Celia

Name of the book : PUCK (French puppetry magazine) n° 3 “Pro-vocation l’école” / “Pro-vocation the school”.
I choosed to review an article by Joan Baixas called “The puppet’s breath”.


About Joan Baixas : painter and scene director, born in Barcelona on a family of artists and travellers, he is known for his production of visual theatre, his work is based on combination of painting with puppets, masks and projection of images.
He directed the company Teatre de la Claca (1967-1988) where, while travelling around the world on a van, he collaborated with worldwide artists like Joan Miró, Antonio Saura, , Joglars, Circus Oz and others.
He shows his work in all kind of spaces, from the street and community centres to emblematic places such as the Guggenheim Museum, le Centre Pompidou, the Tate Modern, the Sydney Opera House, Hongkong Arts Festival, etc..
He develops a pedagogic task at the Institut of Theatre of Barcelona and other international art centres.
About the article :
He wrote this article towards several questions about the stage practice of puppets as which difficulties the director, the actor, can go through? , which kind of relationship establishes between the actor and the character? , to what extend the puppeteer brings himself in his character?..
He describes then two close and complementary theatre types : the traditional art of puppetry and what he calls the art of moving images, the kinetic or visual theatre. From the first type’s view the puppet refuses to disappear : it’s an non-actual and unnecessary art but impregnable. From the second type’s view the art of moving images is an hybrid kind, meeting point between technologic show and crafts. This specific distinction supports his main point : puppets are living beings while moving images develop in virtuality . So the art of moving images needs manipulators when the art of puppetry needs actors.
So the actor identifies to his character by breathing. The breath of the puppet is the breath of the actor, who manifests in voices and silences.
How could this be useful for puppeteers : Puppetry is about transmission principally, so if you don’t breath with and in the puppet the magic cannot happen. Breath means life so the puppet needs it to be completely alive, that’s why i think this article could be very useful for puppeteers because Joan Baixas based his directing and teaching on this truth. Which make his speech clear in plus of his direct exemples. The puppeteer breath in his puppet as an opera singer breath in his spine. I’ll end with one of the author’s quote : “ silence and interspersed respiration is the magic of puppetry, its ability to spell.”

kate james-moore book review

Living Dolls- story of Indian Puppets

by Jiwan Pani

This short book is a systematic catalogue of Indian puppets by type and by region. The author has broken down his study into glove, rod, marionette and shadow puppets and within each section explores the origin, the method of making, the types of storeys and the types of music used.
The book over all seems to be about a dying art. It talks about the lengths the author had to go to find practasing puppeteers. Despite the fact that India has such a incredibly long history in puppetry dating back to second century BC and repeatedly being the 1st country to use puppetry this book seems to state people just aren’t able to make a living out of puppetry any more.
I think this book is very useful for any puppeteer who is looking to research into authentic methods of puppet manipulation. The text goes into great detail about all the different aspects that make up a traditional Indian piece of puppet theatre. I believe if you were looking for inspiration it might be an interesting jumping off point, to see how things used to be down and perhaps how you can take it from their. If you wanted to make traditional Indian puppets there are some quite detailed descriptions and the book is crammed full of illustrations (of varying quality).
This book is very informative and full of lovely bits of puppet fact including some wonderful translations for example the puppeteer is called a Sutradhar which literally means holder of strings and puppetry is described in one region by the term Bommalatam that means dance of dolls. Some other interesting facts are that in one type of puppetry the strings of the puppet are tied to the fingers of the puppeteer and with shadow puppets the characters are always kept in separate baskets depending on if they are evil or gods.
Pani believes that we are fascinated by puppet theatre for deep psychological reasons, he explores the different examples of what psychologists call "wish fulfilment" and how it relates to our desire to escape reality.
If I had any criticism of this book it would be that it was slightly repetitive in style but overall I would strongly recommend it.

kate james-moore book review

Love of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico

Love of Seven Dolls is a short novel about a young girl, Mouche, who is saved from suicide by seven puppets .These are archetypal puppet characters: a hypocritical fox, an unhappy giant, a sulky golden haired girl, a pompous but friendly penguin ,the’ manager’ Carrot Top ,a gossipy old woman with a heart of gold and a toy mender. She strikes up a lively and loving relationship with them that rescues her from despair.
But, of course, they are all created by the puppeteer ‘Capitaine Coq’. A complex man, whose life has turned him into a cruel abusive man ,he feels affronted by Mouche’s innocence and abuses and bullies her. However, Gallico shows us how he expresses his multi-faceted personality through the puppets and ,by the end, he recognises his love for Mouche –a love he expresses through the puppets, and he is redeemed through this.
Love of Seven Dolls was first published in 1954. Paul Gallico, who was born in New York in 1897, served in both the world wars and lived for a time in England, wrote many memorable stories including the Snow Goose.
The aspects of the story that I think puppeteers would be interested in include the relationship between Capitaine Coq and his puppets and the origins of his puppetry work. He expresses his real self –or his real selves-through his puppets and is able to drop the cynicism and hatred that informs the rest of his life when working with them.’ Often he was amused at the things done and the sentiments expressed by his creations for they were completely foreign to him’
The puppeteer started making the puppets during the war in a prisoner of war camp to distract the other prisoners. Yet his creations ‘take over’ and refused to speak the obsenities demanded by the soldiers.
When Mouche arrives, for a time the story lines become exciting and different. When he turns from her and reinstates the old tired routines, the puppets become ‘Listless’
Gallico is not suggesting some supernatural thing about the seven dolls –although at times they all take on a life of their own. We see that, through them, a damaged man is able to regain both life and love
Thus puppetry is seen as giving the capacity for redemption for both Mouche and Captain Coq.
I would

Article Review by Kay

"Lesson in Writing": An article from "Image Music Text" by Roland Barthes (1977).

Article Overview
This article compares western puppetry (and western culture in general) with Japanese Bunraku theatre (otherwise known as Ningyo Johruri). There is a detailed analysis of Bunraku, with a special focus on the puppeteer. There are also some very thought-provoking observations made by Barthe, which I can only describe as ‘puppet theology’, where he reflects on the puppet, the actor, and the relationship between both. Although this reading is short and almost 3 decades old, it is full of interesting and profound ideas that are still very relevant to the contemporary performer.

How is it useful for puppeteers?
The article makes you think about the importance of discipline as a performer. The main operator’s face is left uncovered and yet remains “smooth, clean, impassive, cold like ‘a white onion freshly washed’.” The two other operators, though covered up, also remain fully visible on stage. Yet all three become almost invisible to the audience as they work together to create “eminently transitive” actions. They become merely the way of passage for the action to travel to the puppet, without drawing any attention back on themselves. Barthe describes this as getting ‘rid’ of the actor, (which parallels Edward Gordon Craig’s theories on the Ubermarionette). What a challenge this is to us as exposed operators – to keep our own bodies still and our faces stoic (or covered up!), as we channel all our energy into the puppet.

This article also made me think of what we have been learning about the stillness of the puppet. Keeping in tradition with the minimalist nature of Japanese art and theatre, it seems that Bunraku finds much of its meaning in stillness and silence – to the point that the sources of Bunraku theatre are exposed in their ‘void’. What’s more, all of the actions of the operator are decisive and precise. This then challenges us to look at our shows and strip them of all unnecessary actions until we are left with the essential gestures (including pauses) to convey our story.

An interesting quote from Barthe
“If the manipulator is not hidden, then why and how turn him into a God? In Bunraku, the puppet is held by no thread; without a thread, there is not longer any metaphor, any Fate; puppet no longer aping creature, man is no longer a puppet in the hands of the deity, the inner no longer controls the outer.”

Barthes, R. (1977). Lesson in Writing. In S. Heath (Ed. and Translator), Image Music Text: Essays Selected and Translated by Stephen Heath (pp. 170-178). Great Britain: Flamingo.

Kate's Marionette Piece

Luni Lou and the Great Escape

Aldo Palazzaschi was the most unusual of things,

a pacifist Futurist.

He believed that the pen truly

was mightier than the sword.

My show explores this particular poet's desire to escape the horrors of war by entering the fantastical world of outer space.

kate james-moore book review

Dogtroep The art of wild Theatre

A visually stunning comprehensive history of the performing arts company Dogtroep. This beautifully produced programme of the works of the trope explores every facet and mechanism of "the machine" that is Dogtroep taking it cog by cog and laying bare the inner workings of the art of wild theatre.
The book is structured in such a way that is very easy to navigate though there is a very natural progression from orientation to aesthetic and finally practices each individual chapter could be taken as a stand alone piece.
Warner VanWely who was a founding member of the company in 1975 describes the process of working with and leading the company as a voyage of discovery meeting with constant growth and change along the way.
I was very interested by the companies key principles of authenticity, effectiveness and homogeneity it seems to me a lot of faith goes into keeping theses principles working together to create great many sided spectacles.
The range of influences is very intriguing to name just a few. The work that they follow includes Buster Keaton, Pina Bowsh, MadMax and Keith Harring company members also read surrealist and futurist manifestos.
The elements that Dogtroep work is built around are rich and varied
The character of site is key
The metamorphose of concepts vital
The essential naivety of work making a constant appearance
The key emphasis on sculptural quality
The fact that nothing is hidden all elements are part of performance

It is interesting to note that no matter how successful it is they only play a type of performance a limited number times.
The main categories of work are
Open air spectacles small scale projects
Indoor performances concerts
Street theatre performances parades
Festival infiltration’s visual projects
TV projects
Interesting time lines of a year’s work schedule showing just how varied and busy a timetable their have up to 20 events each year. This obviously greatly influences the time they have for rehearsal and that in turn leads to the hasty and improvised feel of the final product.
This is a great book for anyone to read but particully puppeteers, as it is such an amazing melting pot of ideas. It is a really inspiring text that any one thinking of setting up their own company should read.

The Body Speaks - A book review by Klaus

Marshall, Lorna (2001). The Body Speaks: Performance and Physical Expression. London: Methuen.

Performers "need to ensure that every single physical action reflects and reinforces what they wish to communicate. They must ensure that the body aligns itself with the voice and the words, so what is revealed to the audience is complete and true. No blocks, no unintended contractions. No falseness." Adding "with the puppet" to "with the voice and the words" in this quote from the author's Preface, it becomes obvious how this book can be of interest to the puppeteer.

Lorna Marshall invites the reader into a deep exploration of the requirements and obstacles for authentic physical expression - not only in performance - and of a state of a bodily integration that allows "every limb, muscle and bone in your body to be vibrantly present, and able to communicate equally well."

"The Body Speaks" is primarily a workbook that combines observations and reflections, based on the author's many years of experience as an acting teacher, with guided exercises, or self explorations, designed to lead to an ever increasing self-awareness and sensitivity towards inner impulses in response to whatever a performance situation might demand. And it covers a lot of ground, from centering exercises to working with emotions, from using the voice to creating a character.

The author never tires to remind the reader to approach her suggestions and exercises with openness and curiosity, from a state of not knowing, that allows to go beyond automatic and unconscious physical conditioning and restricted perception acquired through inevitable socialization processes and fixed social persona.

This book could easily become a long lasting, much treasured companion for puppeteers who want to explore their most important and most immediate resource: their body and its potential for clear and authentic expression of every possible human experience.

Some favorite quotes:

"It isn't a case of starting from scratch. Rather, it is a question on how to retrieve what we already know and what we have already done. Simply reconnecting to a more direct and fluid way of existing."

"The first step in exploring your physicality should be awareness. Learning to sense how you actually move, what your patterns are, where the automatic responses are. And the engaging in dialogue with them."

"Two of the strongest impediments to any kind of exploration are fear and doubt. But how can you stop them? How can you get rid of them? The answer is, you can't. Don't waste time trying (...) What you need is to encourage some other qualities which can balance and eventually outweigh the negative ones. Two of the most useful are humour and curiousity."

On Zeami, the founder of the tradition of Noh theatre: "One of his key concepts was 'the rule of seven-tenths'. He said, 'The actor's body moves seven-tenths, the actor's heart moves ten-tenths.' In other words, your inner reality is always bigger than the outer form of the performance. This doesn't mean you reduce the outer expressiveness of your action, but that you ensure your inner life is even more vibrant."

'Star' Performances at the Living Room Theatre

On Thursday 2oth and Friday 21st November we held our Living Room Theatres, where we invited people to come and see us perform our finished marionette pieces. Our breakfast room was transformed into a 'starry' wonder, complete with fairy lights on a sweeping black backdrop.
After the performances we enjoyed delicious food and drink provided by the wonder-chef duo of Caroline and Kat.
This event also marked the end of our time in Yorkshire, and we have now headed down south to London. Tomorrow we will attend a 3 day mini course on The Marionette and the Actor, with our final performances on Wednesday.

Our marionette 'chorus line'

These puppets were made by (from left to right)

Kate, Kat, Celia, Kay, Nat and Sif