Lifesize Toy Theatre Project

Figures being cut...

Joanna Hruby is a student at the Central School of Speech and Drama. On her website, she has recently begun outline an ambitious design/performance project that incorporates as a major part of its theme, toy theatre...on a grand scale.

She says, "A zany idea perhaps, but one that I have not been alone in entertaining - Terry Gilliam constantly refers to the scenography of life-sized Victorian toy theatre in [his] films..."

The basis of her project is a...

...collaboration between live 'psychedelic folk' performance and live, animated theatrical visuals. This is my stab at turning a folk festival into an all day ritual theatre spectacle.

The poetic imagery in much folk music overwhelms me with inspiration, and has always struck me as a form of storytelling in itself. So at last I am doing what I have wanted to do for so long, and attempting to create a visual narrative to accompany a day of folk performances.

The basic aesthetic framework I am using is that of toy theatre - the Victorian tradition of telling stories via flat, animated figures and scenery made of paper, performed within a miniature proscenium arch theatre. Only this toy theatre will be on a human-sized scale, and the musicians will perform within it, surrounded by it.

The project is on a deadline, only days away.  It'll be interesting to see how it all comes together!