Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 15:29:54 -0600
To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Efficiency of Finger Puppets


I also really enjoy & prefer the 30-40 maybe 60-100 sized audience now.
I started using/making puppets as part of my theatre work doing  summer 
free in the parks traveling shows.
The first summer there were about 30 performers, ages 14 thru 70.
We made a giant parade puppet that was way too heavy and required 5 
people.
For the next 30 years I having been working from smaller to big.
I apprenticed myself to puppeteer Robin Reed for one production to 
learn about the rod puppets he was using for it.
I was a friend and housemate to the late "IF" (Itinerant Fool) who used 
very small simple & elegant object puppetry in his performances (all 
his props. costumes, performance objects and personal belongings were 
in one rather small old suitcase as he traveled).
I learned as much as I was able mostly watching and talking to the uber 
talented Nancy Aldrich in Milwaukee before she went out west.
Then I found a few cast off hand puppets in a resale shop and created 
The Foundling Puppets and created my only (so far) Puppet video.
I created one suitcase/tabletop touring show using object puppetry 
("Tobaccosaurus Rex" a show about decision making about tobacco use for 
young people)
Toilet Tissue rolls caught my attention and I began saving them to do a 
workshop for kids on using recycled materials for puppets and masks. I 
now have several boxes of tubes and want to get more serious about 
suitcase/tabletop small show/audience creation,
I'm familiar, of course, with Paul Zaloom's work and Great Small Works.
I also have the fantastic book, "Theatre on a Tabletop".
My request is I would love to hear from other's doing "small works" and 
see some images and video.
Hope to hear from you.

Michael John Moynihan
Milwaukee

On Dec 13, 2005, at 6:03 PM, Kismet wrote:

> Whats that word when you find some one is thinking along similar lines 
> to
> you....synchronicity?....Ill have to look it up....
> Always keen to stretch the boundaries myself, Mathieu, I have been 
> playing
> with puppets made from a toilet roll! a face painted on, two "googley" 
> eyes,
> wool/fur/stuffing for hair, bright fabric for a costume and then a 
> piece of
> fabric forming a bow for the arms...very basic stuff but the power 
> behind
> that simple icon. I think THAT is the key, that the puppet is an ICON 
> or
> even a semiotic of the character...NOT the character. By stripping 
> away the
> technology of the image we are left with the essence of PERFORMANCE 
> which is
> where these little figures are getting their power....and their 
> delight....
> Im performing a poignant little work about a superhero called Little 
> Billy
> Bottle Top who is actually a ring pull, not a bottle top (of course he 
> is a
> toilet roll character but...) at a large festival next week, Ill let 
> you
> know how it goes...
> The follow on from this came when I was looking at some war gaming
> models...you know they make little Orc's and warriors or soldiers and 
> tanks
> and then re-enact battles on large playfields....The detail in these 
> things
> is AMAZING! Of course I thought if you could get that detail at that 
> scale
> 1:32...what could you acheive at finger size. I whipped up a skull 
> mold and
> made ten latex skulls that dance on my finger tips to an excerpt of
> Prokofiev's "Dance of the Knights" from Romeo and Juliet...although 
> well
> detailed (each skull is about 40cm high) the simplicity of the piece 
> is its
> strength. (I haven't performed it yet, perhaps I should)
> As some one who has performed to a huge live audience..... something 
> like
> 38,000 people in 2002, 6,000 people a night last year, shadow puppet 
> show
> (Pinocchio) to 2,500 people in September (these are all staged, not 
> street
> theatre or anything) I really enjoy and prefer the 30-40 maybe 60-100 
> people
> that I can really engage with on an immediate level... thats my 
> preference.
>
> Daniel
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mathieu René" <creaturiste-AT-magma.ca>
> To: <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 7:52 AM
> Subject: [Puptcrit] Efficiency of Finger Puppets
>
>
> Hyall.
>
> More and more I am thinking about making a small finger puppet show 
> one can
> carry in a small hand bag, sets included.
>
> Right now I'm making a dozen finger puppets as Christmas Gifts this 
> year.
> I always had my doubts about what use finger puppets could really be 
> in a
> profesionnal setting. After all, I've never seen any that looked good 
> or
> efficient enough to convince me otherwise. But I like to keep an open 
> mind
> nowadays.
>
> A search in toy stores and on the Net brought nothing really 
> subtancial,
> besides some toys with very little (in my humble opinion) depth(of
> character) and movement to them. They barely seemed alive!
>
> But as I am making my own, out of a paper mache pulp with shoe-string 
> arms
> that end in paper mache pulp hands, I can see the potential. They move 
> their
> arms in a variety of funny ways, and their facial expressions are 
> getting
> close to the kind of caricature that works for hand puppets.
>
> I am starting to wonder why I have not seen or heard about puppet shows
> performed with such cute little critters.
> It doesn't mean there arent't any, but if there are, they should be 
> more
> visible!
>
> Does anyone have leads, pictures, books to reccomend web links to show 
> me
> good or great finger puppets?
> Can you bring up some reasons why they work great, if you think so?
> Can you bring up special situations or settings in which they would 
> work at
> their best?
>
>
> Right now, unless one uses Video or a giant screen as a final 
> presentation
> medium, I can only see such a small type of puppet performed 
> intimately, in
> very small groups, probably under 30 people. Please prove me wrong!
>
>
> Thanks for any lead!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Mathieu René Créaturiste
> Marionnettes, Masques, Etcetera...
> Puppets, Masks, Etcetera...
> creaturiste-AT-magma.ca
> www.creaturiste.com
> (514) 274-8027
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"Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire." =96 Confucius

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I see and I remember.
I do and I understand."
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