To: <PaperMacheArt-AT-yahoogroups.com>, <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org>,
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2006 23:16:40 -0500
Subject: [Puptcrit] La tete Blanche: puppet show success


Hi all.
The new Theatre play for which I made two tabletop puppets started tonight.
I was there, all anxious to see them appear in stage lights.


The show is called La t=EAte Blanche. It is by a Montreal company named "Qui va l=E0"
It is in French. It plays at the Montreal theatre La Licorne, from tonight till end of February.
Schedule:
January 15, 16, 22, 23
February 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27 
8:00 pm, doors open at 7:30pm.

La Petite Licorne (the cafe inside La Licorne)
4559, ave Papineau, (corner of Mont-Royal)
Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
telephone:(514) 523.2246.


The first show is always an exciting moment for me. Especially this time. I had not gone to any of the rehearsals, and did not even read the text. I usually need do, but this time, the puppet descriptions were self-explanatory and clear.
This contract was quite a challenge. I was hired last minute, and had only about two weeks to make the two puppets with two accessory modifications, while I had other contracts going on.

The resulting show was a total inspiration. I feel free to rave about it since I truly was not involved in the whole thing. I ust made the puppets, and saw none of the process.
So, as an audience member, I was transported into the life story of a young old lady.
The main character is played by herself, a non-actress who does a fantastic job!
She lead a fantastic life. The show is a fiction-documentary about her life, with lots of visual and musical and poetical interpretations. Lots of symbols used efficicently. This young yet fantastic theatre company mixed Storytelling with music with poetry with puppetry (puppets and found objects) and acting to create a new way of looking at a lifetime. Everything was re-interpreted, up to the music that you hear when you first enter the room as an audience member.
Can you imagine guests to a mundane dinner represented by chess pieces? I saw it! Amazingly believable and "=E0 propos".
A knit woolen scarf became an endearing and hilarious hairy mess of a dog right before our eyes, and vanished like magic, turning back into the scarf. I never saw anything quite like it.

I like efficient simplicity better than extravagant complexities. This show is all about simple and efficient, so very well done that everything seems quite real and natural. I could feel this is filled with the lives of everyone in it.
The whole thing is very intimate as well. both thanks to the contents and to the size of the venue: very small and narrow. Less than a hundred people at a time I'm guessing. 

An ephemeral jewel like this has to be seen before it becomes just a memory. By choice of everyone involved, the show will be retired when the lady cannot perform it anymore. I think it a great if courageous decision. Can you imagine working so hard on a show and not know how long or how short it will run? The three founders of the company are like that, they are not affraid to try.
I want to work with them again.

Details about my puppets: 

-an egg-headed young boy in complete suit and tie (costume by Sandrine, girlfriend to one of the puppeteers, whom I will hire in the future for more amazing costumes). The translucent paper mache head lights up in the dark, with a modified LED book-light embedded in it. The rigidified handle of the lamp serves as a manipulation stick for the head. The head is magnetised at the neck for easy assembly, as the character is born as just an egg with small cute black eyes(buttons).
The character eventually inhabits a golden bird cage, where he sits and whistles and is protected from the world. His head can be manipulated by the stick, which is placed to stick out of the trap I cut out of the wires.
I did not design this one. I constructed him to resemble a drawing from one of the puppeteer, as close as possible without sacrificing movement and mecanics. I just added orbits and eyes on the egg for more life to the character.

-An old lady, in white bathrobe, white hair and white slippers. She is dressed the same and looks almost like a twin sister of the main character, who's wearing a white wig. It took me 9 hours to pattern and sew her bathrobe to resemble the lifesize one worn by the main actress. I'm no natural-born patternmaker, but I'm proud of the result. Her head is on a neck made of a wooden ball and socket joint (my first), her elbows are the segmented arms joined with a nylon strap (from a backpack). Her knees are nonexistent, but appaear to be perfect in movement, thanks the the lower leg being weighted and filled, while the upper leg is just a piece of sponge(polyfoam) shaped like a leg with cissors, and crossed by an axis made of stiff wire, running trough the hips. Just the right amount of tonus and bounce, while remaining supple enough for a natural sway in movement when the puppet is sitting with dangling legs. The lady started from a hard rubbery plastic doll. I covered her entirely in paper mache for strenght and texture, changed her shoulder articulation, modified her foot position and shape, switched from a left-to right swivel to a universal joint for the neck, re-sculpted her entire face, replaced her hair by custom-fitting a human size wig. She has mini rods sticking out the back of her head, wrists, and heels. Her back has a small loop handle sticking out for more subtle movements. You should see her during the "gyddyup" scene where she is bounced on her father's knees, because they are simulating a horse race. Watch her bounce with joy! Unusual yet endearing to see such a kid in such an old looking puppet.

Both puppets started from actual previously-loved dolls. The boy is from a cloth bodied doll with arms and legs (no articulation) of rubbery plastic.  They look great under the simple stage lights. 
 
After the show I received so much positive feedback about the puppets from the puppeteers and audience alike (hint: it helps if you walk around with the puppet in your arms) I didn't know what to say except thanks a lot, repeatedly. some even asked about how it was built. I am proud to say I stopped myself before I went into technical mode. I don't want to induce coma.
Do we get inddiffrent to the feedback eventually?  Gee, I hope not. This is only the fifth professional puppet show I build for.

I was on such a cloud after, that I forgot to take time to take the pictures I need for my portfolio. I usually set up my studio for photos at home BEFORE I hand over the puppets. This time everything was to be used quicker than I could turn around and take a deep breath! I only have pics inn progress, which I'm glad I took. Anyway, I will come back to see the show again, and perhaps take pictures of the entire show. I'm getting good at that and enjoy the challenge of capturing magical moments. Flash-less and on tripod, of course.

If you come to Montreal during the previously mentionned times and get to see the show, let me know. We may meet and talk shop.

I will post pictures on my website when I get some, and keep ya posted about it.














Mathieu René Créaturiste
Marionnettes, Masques, Etcetera...
Puppets, Masks, Etcetera...
creaturiste-AT-magma.ca
www.creaturiste.com
(514) 274-8027
_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Admin interface: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org
Archives: http://www.driftline.org