Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop in London has started a fun project:
I’m excited about a lockdown project that we can give you a taste of here. We let artist @keithkhanlondon into the archives of @benjamin_pollocks_toyshop and we can’t wait to see the results. Yes, animation is a slow process so we’ll have to be patient.
A "newish" book (published in 2019) from poet laureate Simon Armitage, in collaboration with artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins.
Simon Armitage’s extended narrative poem uses the well-known framework of the Brothers Grimm tale but gives us a new contemporary interpretation and focus. This is a darker, glittering Hansel & Gretel fairy story for the 21st century, of refugees, bombed villages, homelessness, a landscape where nothing is quite as it seems, but of humanity, humour and hope too.
The powerful story is illustrated by the visual creations of artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins. His compelling Hansel & Gretel characters have appeared as prints, and as a Toy Theatre for Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop and re-imagined here using the imagery of the toy box of mid-century wooden puppets, villages and building blocks in creating a unique, contemporary fairytale landscape.
A unique opportunity to learn, study, meet, and collaboratively work with artists from all over the world from your chair at home...
Course title: Pop-Up Methods and Techniques as a Basis for Theater.
Puppets for Pop-Up Stages.
The last lesson will be dedicated to personal counseling and watching the works.
Opens on Thursday 20.8 at 8 pm Israel time; the course will be held weekly for five consecutive weeks - 20.8, 27.8, 3.9, 10.9, 17.9
The course will be in English and includes personalized online guidance.
Number of participants, about 15, and each lesson will last 2-3 academic hours.
Price: US $ 100, payment via PayPal or Western Union Service)
We are deeply honored at this time to be able to present a live streamed performance of Geppetto!
Geppetto: Extraordinary Extremities is a tale of resilience, adaptation and ingenuity that tells the story of puppet-maker Geppetto, who is attempting to perform — all by himself for the first time ever — the grand mythical love story of Perseus, who slays a sea monster to save his beloved Andromeda. During the show things begin to go haywire, and Geppetto finds himself desperately improvising to overcome the challenges of performing solo while at the same time scrambling to devise new story lines, new characters, and even new limbs.
Geppetto: Extraordinary Extremities was inspired by a NPR story on Hugh Herr, whose legs were amputated after a climbing accident and who now designs technologically advanced artificial limbs.
“The play focuses on a longing for magic, a wish for a transformative power…A compelling performance, enhanced by haunting cello music…It celebrates human ingenuity.” – New York Times
“It’s romantic in an old-fashioned way…lovely music…Carlo Adinolfi’s performance is charming.” – New Yorker
We dedicate this performance to anyone who has lost a loved one during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Our newest virtual offering is a charming, zany, 10-minute toy theater show directed by Brian Selznick, writer and illustrator of “The Invention of Hugo Cabaret” and “The Houdini Box,” and the illustrator of the 20th anniversary “Harry Potter” box set. The show is based on the 1994 children’s picture book written by Pam Conrad and illustrated by Selznick.
At the time, the book was a sweet story about a doll who throws herself a party with her friend’s knife, fork, spoon, and plate. “Twenty-five years later,” says Selznick, “my friend Jacqui Russell asked me if I would help to turn ‘Doll Face Has a Party!’ into a puppet show. She thought that children might especially enjoy it during this time of quarantine because Doll Face never leaves her home, throws a party because she is bored and makes friends with the items around her house.”
Creative Team:
Directed by Brian Selznick
Based on the Book, "Doll Face Has a Party!"
Text by Pam Conrad / Pictures by Brian Selznick
Produced by Jacqueline Russell
Designed, Built, and Puppeteered by Will Bishop & Grace Needlman
Narrated by James Lecesne
Music by Tuba Skinny
Additional Music by Robin Rapuzzi
Sound Design by Kevin O’Donnell
Anglia Ruskin University's Film & Television program students created this toy theatre trailer recently. They shared with me that, "...We are going to release a very different version very soon!"
Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop will be hosting an Easter Instagram Exhibition, posted over the weekend starting at 3:00pm (GMT) Friday 10th April on Instagram @benjamin_pollocks_toyshop
The full exhibition will be posted on Facebook on Easter Monday 13th April
Facebook.com/BenjaminPollocksToyshop
And will also be posted to the Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop website.
Pontine Theatre’s “A New England Christmas” is a brimming cup of holiday magic and cheer. Two people on a largely blank stage act out two intriguing short stories with minimal props in an easy, designed manner that transfixes their listeners. It’s rare so little offers so much. This year, co-Artistic Directors and the company’s sole actors Marguerite Mathews and Greg Gathers adapted two short stories for their holiday fare: “A Neighbor’s Landmark,” by Sarah Orne Jewett, and “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” by Dylan Thomas. The most outstanding aspect of Mathews and Gathers work is its deliberateness. Every move is designed for effect, every gesticulation is poignant and graceful. Every prop, toy element and sound used is calculated for effect. They are masters of their art. They begin each piece with an informal setup that contains a bit of information about the author, their style, and the origin of the selection. The stage backdrop is a black curtain. The props are a small table, set a few feet before another, where the story’s backdrops are placed. Beneath both, hidden away, is a collection of small toy theater pieces and a handful of props. That’s it, a few visuals, two people and a lot of talent that bring a pair of entirely different stories to life. “Landmark,” set in Maine, is about a struggle to preserve two majestic, old pine trees. The trees’ owner is offered a tempting price for their lumber and leans toward felling them. His decision divides his family and sets his neighbors against him. In the synopsis, not so interesting, in the hands of Pontine, the tale very much is.
The piece is blissfully colored by the rich language and dialogue of Orne Jewett, who had an astute ear for Down Maine dialect. The performers’ delivery demonstrates an equally canny ear. The sound alone is captivating. Coupled with Mathews and Gathers usual flawless performance, it’s simply mesmerizing. The structure of the piece is like a well-arranged musician’s set. Alone on stage with few props, they keep it interesting with their usual use of toy theater characters, mixed with performances by the actors without their aid, and the marriage of action between both. One of the funniest moments is when the two “row the boat.” It’s most poignant - at a suspenseful juncture - has the pair turning pages of an over-sized book, advancing the story in silence through its illustrations. “Child in Wales” is equally captivating. It’s a sweet, humorous story, told with fewer props still, but is no less fascinating for it. This one offers even more of the picturesque movement of the two performers, who take you back to childhood and Christmas through the eyes of a child. Pontine’s “A New England Christmas” is storytelling at its best. It’s a gentle, bewitching hour and a half, offering something different for the holiday. This is definitely worth your precious, discretionary time. ___________
WHERE & WHEN: Pontine Theatre November 29 - December 8, 2019 Fridays 7pm, Saturdays 3pm, Sundays 2pm
The 2nd Annual Winnipeg Crankie Festival, taking place at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church, NOVEMBER 8-10th, 2019 promises to expand on the inaugural edition as a new, interactive and participatory festival, where audience members can immerse themselves in music and art; on and off stage.
We are honoured to dedicate this year's festival to Canadian Folk Music Pioneer, Mitch Podolak.
To find out more, visit the festival website here, or check out the poster, below...
From the film, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, this is a scene showing a mechanical prop operated off-stage that provides the illusion of a sea monster 'eating' a sailing ship. What fun!
Although this was meant in the film to be full-size, the same type of mechanisms, scaled down, would do beautifully in the toy theatre. Hmmmm...that gives me an idea.......
David Worobec is a classically trained vocalist who performs musical theater on miniature stages. Not content to play merely one character, he sings and performs every part with the help of an ensemble of action figures he’s carefully cast in each role. Through a series of intimate performances and conversations with David, his mother and others close to him, there emerges a portrait of an artist searching for his place in life.
I've posted about David before. Even other films about him. But this film is my favorite, because it's the most intimate, sharing with us a bit more 'behind the scenes'. What an amazing performer!
On December 2nd, at the Sala CCB (Performing Arts Center) in Mexico City, the company Huellas en Venus Teatro premiered a new toy theater show - "About the Secret Life of Cats". It will be performed there until March 2018, and after that they hope to travel it round the country.
Watch the creative process come alive, as the company brings this production to life!
A behind-the-scenes trailer for the new toy theatre production (in Spanish):
From an recent interview of the company:
The production, in paper theater format, written by Gerardo Castillo and directed by Mauricio Martínez Martínez, tells a story that will uncover a legend about relationships between cats and humans.
In this world full of magical and mysterious places, the audience will be able to meet characters like Lorenza, the little kitten of colossal proportions, Timotea, the colorful flying kitty and his loyal friend Rodolfo, the acrobat mouse, and, of course, the daring Sir Thomas Malory Tapioca.
The story arises from the need to explore the thousand-year-old figure of the cat, which has inspired from heroic legends to tales of terror. With a sense of humor, the project is immersed in its amazing stories and vicissitudes, the same that happens on the margin of the daily worries of the human beings.
Miguel Ángel Morales, Mauricio Martínez Martínez and Ana Cordelia Aldama make up the cast of this work that proposes the fusion of paper theater with a contemporary expressiveness, in which the actors use the resource of oral narration, with masks and manipulation of objects.
That sounds amazing! I hope anyone in Mexico who has the chance, definitely checks out this fantastic production...
A mouse-themed 'Music Hall', (Storybox Collective exhibition/Wilton's Music Hall) - Note jumping baby mouse!
Wilton's Music Hall has been hosting an exhibition that includes a very special toy theatre. I will let the artist and creator of this toy theatre - Fann (Peeticha) Kongrit - tell you all about it...
This project is called, Wilton's Mousy Hall.
It began when I joined a group called The Storybox Collective. It is a group of ten designers and illustrators who have explored the potential of archival research in order to introduce their audience to a curious world of discovery and serendipity.
Faan (Peeticha) Kongrit, the artist
Our first group exhibition - ‘Storybox: Tales of Absence, “What ifs” and Salvation’ - was inspired by the archives of London’s celebrated Wilton’s Music Hall and we have interpreted the world of Wilton’s that was, that is and that could be through a series of new artwork.
Archival collections present a vast wealth of opportunity for discovering creative inspiration and surprising revelations. The Wilton’s collection contains hints and clues to not just the history of the building and its environment, but to the many fascinating people who walked the hallways of the world’s oldest grand music hall.
In this project, I took inspiration from The Music Hall building itself. When I saw the holes and faded paint, I realizes that there are memories recorded in the wall. So I wants to turn back in time and bring that former glory back by using the perspective of a little creature living in the wall.
There is a very special place in Oakland, California, where a very special program is performed every October 30th and 31st. It all started with an idea from the mind of Larry Schmidt...
Below are some highlights from the show - excerpts that demonstrate the sharpness of wit, skill of puppetry, and comic brilliance - that you'll be sure to enjoy. First up, Mysterious Mose, followed by, The Skeleton and the Roundabout, and finally, Hanky Pank's T'ain't No Sin! Check them out...
In the books, they use detailed miniature settings they build themselves that can now be admired at their Amsterdam Muizenhuis (or Mousehouse) shop. At the back of the shop is their studio where they create their mouse worlds, and where visitors can look inside. People often ask questions about the inspiration, design, and construction of the mouse mansions.
In the Mouse Mansion shop & studio you can:
Marvel at the Mouse Mansion sets built for the books, including the harbor, funfair, circus, and theatre
See how they are built and ask the makers questions
Listen to audio books and read all the Mouse Mansion books
Browse around the shop for Mouse Mansion goodies
Children can color while parents can take a seat to read to their child
Studio Schaapman even provides video tutorials for those who want to build their own mouse houses!
