The universe of PUPPETS

"Hay todo un universo de los títeres", were the words that Martin (an expert in puppets) said to us this week.


Fourth week, and the main topic: puppets

I keep working on my research task about puppets in the Black Light Theatre of Prague, and the workshop on puppets that two experts gave us on Thursday was very useful for me


We learnt that a puppet can be any element that comes to life in the stage thanks to the puppeteer. I think that in this year's school play puppets are only going to represent people always, in different ways that could be from a "sock", to well elaborated and articulated puppets made with foam. But on the other hand, in Black Light Theatre puppets are MANY times represented by SIMPLE elements, that could be from one pair of trousers  (watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L7-cLP9AOc), to big and more elaborated puppets.


Martin talked about the different kinds of puppets: he said that the puppets such as the teacher in Vedova in Lumine, which I compared to the ghosts in "Aspects of Alice" in my last entry, are called "Marotte Puppets".
At this point of our work on the play and my research, these are one of the types of puppets that catch my attention the most, as I really like the effect of power, inmensity and 'enlargement' of parts of the body that could be for example the neck or the waist, that they create.


As I said before, Black Light Theatre uses different types of puppets, but another type that is used in the play "Aspects of Alice" are plane/flat puppets. (As we can see in this video, from min 0:05 to 0:40aprox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYIjEBlloIA&feature=related)
Would this type of puppets work in the school play?
Plain/flat puppets work in Black Light Theatre as they are in front of a dark background, and catch easily the audience's attention as they seem naturally part of the scene and stage, but I think that this type of puppets may be kind of boring in the school play, and other kinds of puppets (such as Marotte or articulated ones) can be more dynamic and make different actions in order to catch the audience`s attention, because, as Martin said, a simple movement or action done by the puppet may catch more attention and create more emotion than words from it.

The 'more theorical' day of the workshop ended with two different performances using puppets,
the first one used hand puppets, which are not very common in black light theatre, but that we are going to use in the school play for characters such as the prime minister, and the second one showed articulated puppets that are controlled by the puppeteers (without hiding). This is similar to black light theatre as puppeteers control de puppets (and also people, in this kind of theatre) in a similar way, but in black light theatre they are COMPLETELY hidden (using generally black velvet).


It is a shame for me to talk about the 'practical' part of the workshop (jeje)...
We were explained how to make the heads for our puppets using foam.
I learnt that before creating the puppet, you should know what actions and purposes it will have or do,to justify how you are making it. For example, if your puppet will grab things with its hands, dance, talk, move their eyes, tong, etc, you will need to create a puppet that can perform this actions.
As I commented in my last entry, the use of puppets in theatre is justified as they can do things that humans can't, such as flying, loosing parts of their bodies, etc.



I thought I was 'doing well´at the beginning of the workshop, creating my puppet, but on Saturday I (I think that was a mistake) destroyed it "to make a new one".. but never achieved a 'good piece of art'


I suppose things like this one always happen in the "universe of puppets· and that many puppeteers have to try and try again in order to achieve what they want or need.
[Anyway.. I felt kind of useless and did not like "giving up".. but I'll see what to do tomorrow (something useful for the play), which is the last day of the workshop..]
During this weeks I've found that the use of puppets in theatre is much more important (and complicated) than I thought:


*Why are puppets used in Black Light Theatre, if actors in this kind of theatre can do actions (such as flying) that we can't in real life thanks to optical illusion?

*Which could be other ways of making puppets (especially for people without artistic skills)?and what useful tasks can people in the play (including me,but also others if there are..) which do not have as much skills in plastic arts as others, do?

*Which is the type of puppets that would word (better) in the school play this year?