Beginning Shadow Puppets

4^th March 2015

Konnektiv Shadow Puppet Workshop (1)

Present: Nicky Barron, Mervyn Price, Chris Frid, Julianne

Starting a new project is very exciting.  Albeit it is the second attempt at starting this particular new project.  And this is it.  A shadow puppet and dark noise production of The Little Fir Tree.

Story written by Hans Christian Andersson

Read by Boris Karloff and recorded onto 45 vinyl

Shadow puppets by Konnektiv Drama

Dark noise by The Flesh Eating Foundation.

That’s quite a collaboration that I for one am very proud to be part of.  Obviously Hans and Boris didn’t get much choice, but I like to think if they were here they wouldn’t mind too much.

The point of this blog is to describe the dramatic processes that we embark on when devising the puppetry element of the production.

You may ask why we have to use physical drama to devise a puppet show. 

Well the answer is this: Physical Drama has the power to reveal elements within a story that might otherwise slip by unnoticed.  These elements, when fed into the creation of the puppets and the puppet theatre, will ensure that the final outcome of the piece will be a true work of art with depth, authenticity and truth.

So how do we do this?

The session has drama elements and art elements, the two feed into each other. 

Physical warm ups are essential to start, in terms of people being centred and present in their bodies.  The warm ups have to have elements of

1.      Focus and center

2.      Experience of moving and changing the movements (still – body awareness and range of movement)

3.      Experience of travelling around the room in different ways (raising the cardiovascular system, exploring dynamics of movement)

4.      Experimenting with shape (creativity)

5.      Physically connecting the group (cohesion)

In parts 4 and 5 I entered a task in which I told the group to make shapes on different levels, 1 being lying on the floor, 2 being crouched in some way or kneeling and 3 being standing up straight and maybe reaching.  I would say each number in turn and each group member had to think of a shape at that level.  In part 5 I said that the 3 shapes had to connect, and at this point especially, the group started to grow in cohesion, and the stories told by the shapes became shared and the shapes, visually, very interesting.

At the end of this everyone was lying on the floor and I instructed the each person in the group to find a comfortable position, as I was to play the first part of the story.  I said that each person should listen actively by creating a two tone image in their mind, visualising the story.  I also asked them to be very aware to how their (by now very warmed up) body was responding to the story.

At the end, whilst getting out the art table, I asked each group member to silently reflect on their experience of listening to the story, and decide which scene had the most valence for them.  After this, each person drew an image of the most valent scene, in a single colour, on a plain sheet of paper.  I told them to choose the colour and the paper.

Each scene was discussed in turn, with each artist.  Different elements of the image were discussed, and the main point of the scene was highlighted.

Finally, each person got the opportunity to create and lead in their own scene.  By now, each scene had become really well developed, and some of the characteristics and motivations of each character had been teased out.  I used different techniques to help each person enrol into their character.  There are in fact a myriad number of enrolment techniques, and the one I use will depend on the requirements of that particular moment in the scene.  I will often say “Give three feelings” or “Tell me three characteristics” of the character.  We may spend a little while playing with the idea of who the character is and what they want, fear, or think.  This will often raise the energy of the scene, heightening the moment and the experience of the actor.  Other actors in the scene need to interact in some way with the lead person, to give a sense of shared purpose.  The will also have names, characteristics, motivations.  It all takes quite a while. 

By the end, we have uncovered, discovered, or created much more detail into the scenes that we started with.  It is always a surprise and a joy to see what there is to find hidden in elements of a story through these explorations, using the creativity and expressive skills of the actors.

And of course the actors may well find hidden elements in themselves while they are at it.

I had planned following this part of the session, to make our first trial puppets.  However we ran out of time and the session needed to end at this point.  Merv did give us a little talk about how we will go about creating the final puppets and of course very importantly, the Shadow Puppet Theatre itself.