As may have been made apparent already, War Horse and Handspring Puppet Company's puppets will be a major influence upon this project. Having harboured a secret fear of puppets for many years (as a result of uncanny mannequins and ventriloquists dummies), these were the examples which changed my mind, and showed me just what a puppet is capable of. While the work of Jim Henson too has produced some wonderful creature puppetry in cinema, Handspring's work is at the forefront of theatre puppetry. On both occassions I have seen the show, there has been a sense of quite awe among the audience as a thousand people ate all transfixed by the tiniest movement of an artificial horse. I want to investigate how it is that a modern audience so demanding when it come to special effects (CGI has long since usurped stop motion effects, and even today audience expectations increase film by film) can accept and invest in a puppet whose mechanism and operators are so clearly on display.
The fact that the construction of the puppet is so visible is of benefit to me. While it will be beyond my capabilities to produce such a well engineered puppet, I can take inspiration from Handspring's work. Whether by bulkheads or a wire and cane skeleton, all or their puppets are strong yet as lightweight as possible, for ease of performance. And while more functional than ostentatious, they are beautifully sculptural, meaning it is not difficult for them to hold the audience's attention.
Aside from the below video, I have also used the National Theatre's own Making Of War Horse, which offers a wealth of interviews with the puppet makers, designers, puppeteers and the actors and directors who must work with them. Overall, a deeply informative introduction to the world of puppetry.
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