This is your final opportunity in Melbourne this year to explore and experience 'The Art & Soul of the Puppet'- a winter weekend workshop of pure play and creativity in July. If you have not already booked, here's a final chance to reserve one of a few remaining spaces.
This course is run by puppeteer and international facilitator, Gary Friedman and will focus on professional development through the medium of puppetry, objects, movement and sound. We take storytelling and improvisational performance to the most elaborate ends, focusing on The World of Paper and Object Animation.
The workshop will take place from Friday evening 19 to Sunday 21 July 2013 at the Batesford Hub in Chadstone, Melbourne. For bookings or for more information, click here!
A spectacular King Kong opened in Melbourne this week. It's a visual treat for anyone vaguely interested in musicals and puppetry. The gigantic puppet that everyone's talking about is six metres tall with a well-muscled body, an enormous head and a bunch of 'King’s men' manipulating the monster - from his his hands and feet to his fully animatronic head, King Kong is awe-inspiring.
Australian puppeteers Steve Coupe and Jacob Williams, together with puppetry director, Peter Wilson did a fabulous job in breathing life into the great monster so convincingly that Kong is now alive and well and living in Melbourne. “Kids, we’re taking this show to Broadway!” is the final line of the first act of Australia’s most talked about musical, when Carl Denham promises to bring the great ape from the remote Skull Island to a New York City audience. This is certainly a must see for anyone vaguely interested in puppetry and if Carl Denham's words come true, then audiences in New York City will soon get their chance to see Kong too. For more info, click here!
After an inspiring and exhausting six-week tour of Europe and Indonesia, the time has come to reflect on this powerful work and discuss a few key points in what makes this work effective both for the students and teachers participating in our workshops.
For the past 10 years occupational therapist, Sharon Gelber and I have been engaged in developing our work in primary schools, secondary schools, universities and in the corporate sector internationally.
For the past six weeks I've had the privilege of working with international schools all over Europe and Indonesia. During this time working with students, teachers, school counsellors and therapists, we explored creative techniques and new ways of breaking down barriers and facilitating open communication within the classroom environment.
The warm-up combines simple Brain Gym, followed up by a guided visualisation exercise, which relaxes the participants and gets participants focused into a personal creative space. We then use brown packing paper to create instant puppets. These characters create a powerful metaphor which allows the participants to express themselves, their views and tell their stories. This method removes the threat which both teachers and students experience when trying to tell their story.
We have found that many students who are not academically inclined, find it much easier to express themselves and often are those that give the most powerful performances during such a workshop.
In terms of the puppeteer, the relationship between the object and the life it develops through the performance is akin to the relationship between the concrete idea and the abstraction. The additional element that is native to puppet drama is the strong psychological connection between the animated object and the puppeteer. The power of the puppet is the power to immediately connect with an audience. It provides a way for connection that is direct because it travels indirectly within the human understanding that is universal.
In society today our senses are bombarded with noise traffic and continual stimulation that cause our senses to become dulled down. We have to make time to slow down in our busy lives and remove this continual and perpetual stimulation, otherwise it becomes too overwhelming.
People need to re-establish their understanding of their sense of 'self'. Too often children are dumbed down by being put in front of a television, which is non-interactive and does not engage their senses.
What we are now learning is that engaging the senses is what we need to focus to enjoy an experience and the more we are engaged with our senses, the better we learn. Play is the most powerful way of engaging. Families are often no longer safe to explore how they really feel and express their emotions without being ridiculed. This is the sad reality of our western life.
We are planning another European Workshop Tour in September - October 2013. If you are interested in organising workshops for your students or professional development sessions for your educators and therapists, please contact me here!
Throughout the generations, King Kong has both inspired and frightened the public, who have dared to venture out to see it, whether it be on stage, on the giant screen or even hanging from the Empire State Building. So what has this 2013 King Kong got that no other King Kong has ever had before?
King Kong has never, until now, been adapted as a musical to the stage. It is simply one of the great modern myths. Its appeal is universal and its story resilient enough to have different meanings to different ages at different times in our history. Five years in the making, this King Kong will feature a cast of more than 40 actors, singers, dancers and circus performers, and a team of puppeteers who will bring to life one of the most technologically advanced puppets in the world – a one-tonne, six-metre tall silverback gorilla. This is what I've been told and now the proof lies in the performance, which I will view and report back on very shortly!
Sarah McLachlan performs the song she wrote for King Kong - 'What's It Gonna Take'. You can view it here!
After an incredibly inspiring six-week European Workshop tour of Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Hungary, my final workshop on this leg of the tour was giving a workshop for Napsugár Puppet Theatre in Békéscsaba, southern Hungary last night.
After a wonderfully energetic beginning with dance and Brain Gym, followed by a guided visualisation, we started our 'Paper Meditation', where each participant received a large sheet of brown paper on their bodies, as they lie back and relax on the floor. The participants are instructed to keep their eyes closed and explore the paper, in their own time, using all their senses, apart from sight. Some begin to crinkle the paper, others wrap it around their heads and bodies, while some begin to dance with their paper. The exercise relies entirely on self-discovery and as the are working in a dark space, nothing they do can be observed by anyone.
During the sequence I heard a strange whispering in the darkness. I asked the participants to kindly not speak, but rather work alone in the darkness. At the end of the sequence, when the participants were giving their interpretations and feedback, a woman stood up and accused me of hypnotising the participants and calling up he occult. I was, of course, shocked. Another woman started shouting in Hungarian that this was the work of the devil and without any further notice, five of the group jumped up, claiming to be Hungarian Baptist Church members and shouted that I had no right telling anyone to release their fear and relax, as this was strictly in the hands of Christ. They promptly walked out.
This was the most curious and bizarre reaction to any of the more than twenty days of workshops I'd given anywhere in Europe. Although the rest of the session was a resounding success, creating some of the most brilliant improvisation sequences I've seen thus far, this rather odd reaction left me with the strangest feeling that this world is really made up of some 'really curious beings'.
Now as I bid Europe farewell, for at least another few months, I fly off to Jakarta, Indonesia for the final leg of my exciting and stimulating workshop tour!
Here in the Netherlands, the children of the International School of Amsterdam are completely engaged this week in the creative process of puppetry workshop activity, which we are focusing specifically on primary students this week.
I mistakingly thought it would be quite a challenge engaging the very young, while at the same time, holding their attention for any length of time in our ever-growing multi media fast-paced world. But I was so wrong. The kids are engaging in each step of the way.
We begin our days with some powerful Brain Gym activity to focus their brain and get them optimally engaged in the creative process. We then take them on a guided visualisation which calms them down into a more relaxed state, relieving any tention they might hold in their busy daily lives. This is in turn is followed with the paper work. It is here that the most incredible surprises emerge, when the kids are given the opportunity to shine in their own way. Even the most non-academic students often prove themselves best in this creative process - a time where there is no right or wrong way of doing the work, as long as they are expressing themselves in the way they want and completely engaged in the communication process. For more information about this work, please visit the website here!
I have a day off tomorrow to explore the newly opened Riyksmuseumin Amsterdam, before continuing the magic at the school on Friday.
Thatcher captured by the Spitting Image team in the eighties
The Iron Lady of British politics, Margaret Thatcher, the final performer in my nineteen-eighties political street satire, "Puns en Doedie Show" (Puppets Against Apartheid) finally passed into the world of the hereafter to reunite with her former oligarchs PW Botha and Ronald Reagan. "When you've spent half your political life dealing with
humdrum issues like the environment, it's exciting to have a real crisis
on your hands."- Margaret Thatcher commenting on the Falkland Islands war in 1982.
As I sit here in a library on Lake Geneva in Switzerland and reflect upon "the days of miracle and wonder" when we were all young and naive, trying in our own little way to make a dent in the Apartheid machine, not quite aware of the bigger picture and the collaboration of the triumvirate. And now the puppets have all finally been laid to rest, but the memories will remain vivid in my mind, as I recall the South African security police hurriedly taking notes at my street performances and being warned of this by the local newspaper reporter, Tony Jackman.
So let me wish Madame Thatcher well in her journeys in the hereafter and tell her it was fun manipulating her, even from the far away colonies, during the nineteen-eighties.
It is indeed a sad day when a beloved figure of World Puppetry leaves us.Jane Henson was adored by puppeteers worldwide as a generous propagator of our esteemed art. Jane, wife of the late muppet-master, Jim Henson, passed away yesterday of cancer at their family home in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.
As I head off today to begin a six-week European workshop tour, I fell sad but grateful to have been part of an all embracing community that reached out and touch the hearts and minds of our small puppetry community in every corner of this tiny planet. Fare thee well Jane Henson.
“An apocalyptic ‘what if’ fantasy from a master of his craft… brilliant, beautiful and painful…a ferocious production unafraid to challenge you” Vue Weekly, Canada
World-renowned master of marionettes, Ronnie Burkett returns to Australia with his beautifully dark apocalyptic comedy, Penny Plain.
From her overstuffed chair, Penny Plain sits listening to the news of civilization’s inevitable end. When her companion dog Geoffrey leaves to live as a man, Penny’s end-of-days vigil is interrupted by survivalists, a serial killer, a cross-dressing banker, talking dogs and mysterious strangers, all seeking sanctuary from mother earth as she begins reclaiming her ground. Penny Plain may be blind, but she hears a lot about the fate of mankind.
Ronnie Burkett has produced some of the world’s most elaborate adult puppetry, performing sell-out seasons in Australia for over ten years. Ronnie is interviewed about'Penny Plain' here!I look so forward to seeing this production in early August in Melbourne. Book here!
“Full of wit, humour and humanity, Penny Plain, is virtually flawless.” Calgary Herald, Canada
“The best of Burkett, Penny Plain is definitely at the top of the canon…layered with meaning and symbolism.” Edmonton Sun, Canada
“His talent is simply extraordinary.” Globe and Mail, Canada
Thirty ornate horses grazing in the station, by Alvin Ailey dancers, will fill Grand Central Terminal, NYC, this week in a performance conceived by artist Nick Cave. This is part of the station's centennial celebrations. To view this wonderful spectacle, go to Grand Central before the end of March, when it wraps up.
To view the film on The New York Times website, check it out here!Another video of Nick Cave preparing for the performance can be seen here!
