Description
Saturday 29th March – 10am – 4pm (with an hour for lunch)
TICKET: £40 (£60 if booked with Actor, Storyteller, Shapeshifter Workshop held on following day)
Advance booking required.
This is an engaging and fun hands-on opportunity for adults to explore working collaboratively with rod puppets in performance.
James has worked with hundreds of different puppets for the last 25 years. He has also brought many of those into being, as well as the props and worlds they inhabit. By sharing some of his knowledge and passion for puppetry he hopes to reveal the spark, strangeness and charm of these ‘little folk’.
In this introductory day-long workshop we will be:
- Having a look at rod puppets as they are used in the Japanese Bunraku tradition.
- Exploring a rod puppet’s physical presence on the stage and developing good practice for believable movement, with one, two and three puppeteers.
- Looking at the puppeteer’s role and responsibility in helping the audience cross the ‘suspended bridge of disbelief’.
- Highlighting the opportunities, limitations and tricks to handling a puppet as a solo performer.
- Employing simple exercises for basic characterisation and for interacting with other puppets on stage.
Please note: this workshop is only open to people over 16 yrs. No theatre experience is necessary, but a curiosity about puppets and a willingness to play are required!
