This workshop will help the budding puppeteer or experienced manipulator hone their artistry by closely examining the technical skills required to bring the puppet to life, through the lens of the television camera.
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Join Mike Harding of Applefun Puppetry and learn how to perform a one-person puppet show! Find out how to organize your puppets and props. Discover how to manage an audience by yourself. Decide what type of puppets will work best. Learn to create a story that can be performed by just one person.
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April 25th – 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. (1/2 workshop)
In this half day workshop, we will discuss and explore basic ways of creating character voices for various puppets. Through analyzing and playing with sound production, modulation and tonality, we will look for fun ways to create a variety of vocal personas that one can use during actual performance.
Please note that this counts as a one day class
Instructor: Brian Webber
Brian is a Toronto based actor, voice artist, director, performance movement consultant and of course, puppeteer. Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, he studied Drama at The University of the Witwatersrand and was raised and nurtured as a young actor at the famous Market Theatre. He has worked professionally as an award winning actor since 1990 in theatre, film, television and radio. In 2000 he created Fortune Cookie Theatre Company with partner Sylvaine Strike. Together they have been creating unique and alternative South African theatre since. In Canada, Brian has been in theatre productions such as Clunk Puppet Lab’s “How I Became Invisible”, Caterwaul Theatre’s “Unintentionally Depressing Children’s Tales” and Theatre Nidana’s “Life Assignment”, among others.
In this two day workshop the participants will explore and build more complex marionettes, made of wood, with simple working joints. We will explore character development and design, the basic do’s and don’ts of costuming marionettes, as well as different types of marionette control bars and stringing methods.
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This workshop will take a brief tour of the living traditions of shadow puppetry around the world, and introduce you to contemporary practice with the use of modern technology.
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The much loved story of Cinderella is reset in 1830’s Upper Canada, just as “Muddy” York is to be renamed Toronto, and where the very Canadian Cinderella is expected to cater to every whim of her recently immigrated stepmother and sisters. True to the classic fairy tale, with a little magic and some imaginative special effects our resourceful girl does get herself to the Ball, and to the satisfying conclusion of the play.
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Puppetmongers is seeking applications from artists currently involved in the development of puppetry projects. Our priorities and areas of interest are:
The development of theatrical work with puppetry
The integration of puppetry into theatre productions
The creation of new forms of puppetry and new theatrical uses of puppetry
The nurturing of new generation and culturally diverse artists
Rich in magical surprises and mechanical ingenuity, inventive puppetry and exuberant folk music, Tea at the Palace is a sumptuous retelling of two stories told in old Russia about justice, humanity and compassion. In the first, a peasant finds a samovar in his field, but when he uses it to make tea “just like the Tsar” he is charged with treason. In the second, the Tsar is introduced to a wise and intriguing peasant girl, which scandalizes the courtiers who plot to thwart their friendship. Full of riddles, ritual and humour this play is both relevant and enchanting.
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PXL is a forum for the development of creative ideas, not merely a showcase for future productions: emphasis is on the development of new material and unique adaptations of existing material.
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David Powell, Puppetmongers co-Artistic Director, interviewed on the disappearing art of Chinese shadow puppetry.
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