Fortunato Nemo

FORTUNATO NEMO

Far away in the Galaxy Marinetto on the planet Depera and during a time of rapid technological progress there lived the toy maker Fortunato Nemo.




So ingenious were his toys that everyone called him 'The Magician' and the principles of his toy making were taught to all toy makers on Depera:

MANIFESTO:
In games and toys, as in all traditionalist manifestations, there is nothing but grotesque imitation, timidity (little trains, prams, puppets), immobile objects, stupid caricatures of domestic objects, antigymnastic and monotonous, which can only cretinize and depress a child.
With plastic complexes we will construct toys which will accustom the child:
1. to completely spontaneous laughter (through absurdly comical tricks);
2. to maximum elasticity (without resorting to thrown projectiles, whip cracking, pin pricks, etc.);
3. to imaginative impulses (by using fantastic toys to be studied under a magnifying glass, small boxes to be opened at night containing pyrotechnic marvels, transforming devices, etc.)
4. to the continual exercise and sharpening of his sensitivity (in the unbounded realms of acute and exciting noises, smells and colors)
These toys will be very useful to adults too, keeping them young, agile, jubilant, spontaneous, ready for anything, untiring, instinctive and intuitive.

It so happened that planet Depera went through a phase warfare and being somewhat of a conformist, Fortunato did not resist when the authorities of Depera's Futuristic Congress added to his manifesto:

5. to physical courage, to fighting and to war (with gigantic, dangerous and aggressive toys that will work outdoors).

During this time he found it wiser to keep to himself his secret inspiration for most of his toys: the life of animals, birds, and plants around him and he rarely dared to show his studies to anyone.




In fact he felt more and more suffocated losing control of his life in an environment that resembled more and more a gigantic machine.



In the end he put all his genius into building an intergalactic space ship to escape from Depera and to explore other forms of life in the universe.

THE DREAMING SOURE OF CREATIVITY

This book is not only for puppets, now exclusively for puppeteers; it is referred to all those who wants to explore and enhance their creativity that lis within both, ourselves and our environment. Bu using quantum physics, good humor and, of course, puppets, Amy Mindell guides us through this 'journey' and charts the exciting territory between the mystical parts of life and creativity.

The main aim of the book is to show us how creativity is always here, in everything, waiting for us to notice it at any moment in the 'almost nothing' that catches our attention. In this sense, the point is not to reach perfection while you are creating; sometimes, not even to complete the project. Rather, the focus is on the spontaneous and creative act of following the path of the Intentional Field-the "force that guides and sets our lives into motion and brings the material world to birth" (p.15).

The Intentional Field is just one of the different dimensions of experiences that we will come across in this book, and we will be able to explore through simple exercises and play (or playful exercises). Consensus Reality, Dreamland and Essence are the other realms mentioned on the book and all can be understood as parallel worlds for one another. And although we tend to focus on one realm at any given moment, it is possible to move between these parallel dimensions of experience. Learning to move between these worlds is a point of reference in the book, as well as realising how central this ability is to our sense of wellness and creativity.

Exploring these experiences, even those aspects of oneself, which usually seem difficult and troublesome, can be of great assistance to deal with the blocks and moods we all encounter when trying to be creative. Led by the exercises in the book, we will be shown how to use body symptoms as allies and sources of creativity and we will be given guidance in how to catch the fleeting signals from our dreams which, perhaps, might be a new puppet or a new puppetry play. The only thing that we need to do is to open up and let ourselves 'flirting' with the creative impulses within ourselves and our environment.

Why puppets?

In this book puppets are used as the means to creativity and, at the same time, as the outcome of the creating process. And the main reason for this is that puppets themselves are Bridge Builders: they are capable of straddling worlds and dimensions and crossing the boundaries between reality and dreaming

"We just need to put a puppet on our hand and we gain access to the dream world with its magical times, spaces and stories..."(p.180).

I do believe that this is a very interesting book, may be not in the most conventional way, but definitely intriguing and liberating. You are not going to find hints and tips to make better puppets or theories of aesthetics and new approaches to performance. But you may fid different ways to approach your own, unique creativity or even discover creative 'seeds' in aspects of yourself or every day reality that you haven't even imagined. And in this sense, many amazing characters will come into life.

Breath and puppet (and fingers and sounds)

Here are some reflections on key areas of our last weekend's training session with Caroline in London.

Leading the puppet by its head:

Caroline had us operate a plain piece of cloth (increasing its complexity and range of motion by adding rods by and by) and it became obvious that the quickest transition from an inanimate object to an alive puppet was by giving it a head: a center of intelligence and perception, from which one could lead the puppet into meaningful movement and interaction.


Some thoughts on breathing:










From the spectator's point of view: if I'd see an animal or human body lying on the ground I instinctively would scan it for signs of breath to determine if it is alive. And I would be able to detect even the slightest ripple of breath movement within the body from quite a distance to it.

From the puppeteer's point of view:
To send your energy to and through the puppet is one of the fundamental lessons that Caroline keeps reminding us. Using the sensation and rhythm of breathing can enhance this directed flow of attention to an astonishing degree: the puppet can be felt to be organic extension of oneself, no matter whether the contact is by direct touch or transmitted through rods or strings.
In my case this takes time to develop and a lot of reminding myself of the importance of it when operating.

Things that can help me:
- The basic Chi Gong exercise of sensing my center (the area inside the belly just below the navel) and feeling the in-breath travel to there simultaneously through arms and legs and then in reverse flowing from there and out through my limbs on the out-breath.

- Energizing the hands through breathing by very slightly contracting and/or lifting the hand towards the center of the palm on the in-breath and releasing and/or very slightly spreading the hand away from the center of the palm on the out-breath.

- Using pauses to re-establish the breath-connection with the puppet: Caroline frequently reminds us that we tend to undervalue the power of the pause and quiet posture of the puppet and it seems that these pauses are the ideal opportunity to breath into the puppet rather than just freeze into a pose. Ironically, I noticed that I tend to hold my breath exactly during these opportunities.

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Finger exercises

This guy used to make a living by showing off with this set of finger exercises that he developed:




This is the first of a series of practice videos by Greg Irwin found on youtube.

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Resource for sound effects:

Here is a large collection of sounds that might be useful for puppet shows:

http://www.freesound.org/

Klaus