Having never before attended a puppet festival I was unsure what to expect from Skipton Puppet Festival. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend on the last day of the event, but was still able to watch a couple of performances and witness the parade in which a number of large scale puppets circled the town centre, followed by a number of children with the puppets they had constructed in workshops across the weekend.
The performances which I attended happened to demonstrate a broad range of different puppetry styles and techniques. The first, Metamorphosis, was a one man show, with no dialogue, only musical and vocal accompaniment and sound effects, often used to comic effect. There were a variety of puppets, ranging from a beautifully carved and constructed but unadorned string marionette, to more decorative rod puppets with hair and costumes. Yet many were simply the puppeteer's hands, with wooden spheres for heads and his fingers forming limbs. Rather than one continuous narrative, these puppets were employed to bring to life a number of short vignettes.
Contrary to my expectations, it was a predominantly adult audience, with few children. This was perhaps for the best, as some of the vignettes had decidedly adult moments (in one, a groom undressed his bride on their wedding night, and later helped her to give birth). Perhaps the puppets' abstract nature (hands, rather than a more descriptive marionette) the children present saw only what they wanted to see. There was a wonderfully magical atmosphere among the audience, as so many adults suspended disbelief and invested in the stories woven by these animated objects.
A number of the performances in Metamorphosis were to some degree self aware. The wooden marionette (beautifully fluid and skillfully manipulated. The puppeteer used every part of his body to pull the strings, even his mouth. The puppet's movement was highly natural, with lots of subtle gestures and well directed 'looks' more than compensating for the lack of dialogue) is slowly brought to life, testing his legs by walking hesitantly across the stage, before becoming aware of his puppeteer and attempting to pull away (the puppeteer was somehow able to give the puppet tension as he clung to the stage while his strings pulled him in the opposite direction) and take control of his own strings.
Another puppet stood out for her simplicity. Constructed from a piece of silky, gauzy fabric, with a plain, wooden ball head with woolen hair, and hands. Her strings were attached to the shirt of the puppeteer, and as he animatedly played the flute, raising his arms and elbows, the puppet moved and danced with a hypnotic elegance and beauty.
A rod puppet with a head control, which I assumed to be an angel, or perhaps even God (although the carved face seemed female, with white blonde woolen hair and a simple gown) reverently brought forth a globe, from which the creation story was told with a number of cut out shapes which rotated around the globe, depicting the Sun, the Moon, flowers, animals, Adam and Eve, and the tree with the forbidden fruit. One by one, the figures are folded away, leaving only Adam, Eve and the tree, stripped of its greenery. The two human figures are folded back, and eventually the dead tree too sinks beneath the horizon.
A witch was brought to life, using only a sheet of red fabric, a face made of the puppeteers fist, with a pair of round eyes clasped between the fingers, and a hole in her cloak to allow the puppeteer's other hand to be a part of the witch. She makes several potions to try to improve her appearance, with unsuccessful results; her nose becomes an outstretched finger after the first attempt.
A great sense of anticipation comes from watching as the puppeteer unveils his next set of props, materials or puppet. A sense of wonder...what is he going to create next? A spaceship/alien from a glow in the dark ball, and humerous boop-beep-boop vocal sound effects. A tale of a loving mother protecting and nurturing her growing child, until the child becomes the adult, repeating many of the gestures shown to her, as she cares for her aging mother. These two 'puppets' are a single swathe of fabric, with several different masks, each of which the puppeteer holds through the fabric. The masks depict the aging process. What stood out was how the presence of the puppeteer was not a distraction. Dressed in black, he performed on stage alongside his puppets, or indeed was a part of them. Yet this did not detract from the fascination and enjoyment of the audience.
Contrary to my expectations, it was a predominantly adult audience, with few children. This was perhaps for the best, as some of the vignettes had decidedly adult moments (in one, a groom undressed his bride on their wedding night, and later helped her to give birth). Perhaps the puppets' abstract nature (hands, rather than a more descriptive marionette) the children present saw only what they wanted to see. There was a wonderfully magical atmosphere among the audience, as so many adults suspended disbelief and invested in the stories woven by these animated objects.
A number of the performances in Metamorphosis were to some degree self aware. The wooden marionette (beautifully fluid and skillfully manipulated. The puppeteer used every part of his body to pull the strings, even his mouth. The puppet's movement was highly natural, with lots of subtle gestures and well directed 'looks' more than compensating for the lack of dialogue) is slowly brought to life, testing his legs by walking hesitantly across the stage, before becoming aware of his puppeteer and attempting to pull away (the puppeteer was somehow able to give the puppet tension as he clung to the stage while his strings pulled him in the opposite direction) and take control of his own strings.
Another puppet stood out for her simplicity. Constructed from a piece of silky, gauzy fabric, with a plain, wooden ball head with woolen hair, and hands. Her strings were attached to the shirt of the puppeteer, and as he animatedly played the flute, raising his arms and elbows, the puppet moved and danced with a hypnotic elegance and beauty.
A rod puppet with a head control, which I assumed to be an angel, or perhaps even God (although the carved face seemed female, with white blonde woolen hair and a simple gown) reverently brought forth a globe, from which the creation story was told with a number of cut out shapes which rotated around the globe, depicting the Sun, the Moon, flowers, animals, Adam and Eve, and the tree with the forbidden fruit. One by one, the figures are folded away, leaving only Adam, Eve and the tree, stripped of its greenery. The two human figures are folded back, and eventually the dead tree too sinks beneath the horizon.
A witch was brought to life, using only a sheet of red fabric, a face made of the puppeteers fist, with a pair of round eyes clasped between the fingers, and a hole in her cloak to allow the puppeteer's other hand to be a part of the witch. She makes several potions to try to improve her appearance, with unsuccessful results; her nose becomes an outstretched finger after the first attempt.
A great sense of anticipation comes from watching as the puppeteer unveils his next set of props, materials or puppet. A sense of wonder...what is he going to create next? A spaceship/alien from a glow in the dark ball, and humerous boop-beep-boop vocal sound effects. A tale of a loving mother protecting and nurturing her growing child, until the child becomes the adult, repeating many of the gestures shown to her, as she cares for her aging mother. These two 'puppets' are a single swathe of fabric, with several different masks, each of which the puppeteer holds through the fabric. The masks depict the aging process. What stood out was how the presence of the puppeteer was not a distraction. Dressed in black, he performed on stage alongside his puppets, or indeed was a part of them. Yet this did not detract from the fascination and enjoyment of the audience.
The show second, also one man performance (with several puppets) of Aladdin was far more in keeping with what I imagine many associate with a puppet show. More child centric, the energetic Bulgarian performer seemed to be highly enjoying himself, taking on the role of the genie alongside rod puppets whose only movement was in their heads. This conceit worked well, as the character of the genie is larger than life and otherworldly, so it only makes sense that he is not a rod puppet too. Also, the genie is the driving frce behind the story, by granting wishes he controls characters' fates, just as the puppeteer controls the puppets. The set was an elaborately painted box, which could be folded and turned every which way form a new location
Despite only seeing these two performances, I feel that my perception of puppetry has been radically broadened.
 |
| This skeletal dragon puppet embraces the artifice inherent in all forms of puppetry. By revealing the structure and the control mechanism, we can clearly see that it is a trick, that it being alive is only illusion. But there is an undeniable magic in seeing it move, and breathe fire. |
 |
| A small selection of puppets were on display in the local museum, as part of the festival. |
No comments:
Post a Comment