The Georgian Model Theatre Experience

Monday 12 May at 1.10pm and 7.30pm
The Guildhall, Bury St Edmunds
New Model Theatre


OH! SMITH – THE KING OF TERROR
written, created and performed by Robert Poulter
voice of O. Smith: Peter Baldwin

This tongue-in-cheek production features the life and stage performances of the 19th century actor Richard John Smith, widely known as O. Smith, who was famous for playing demons, bandits, assassins, monsters and pirates. Robert Poulter’s New Model Theatre uses new artwork and modern lighting and sound effects to make a 200-year old art form accessible for audiences of today.

The voice of O. Smith is taken by actor Peter Baldwin, well known for his many years in Coronation Street, and also a reputable collector, writer and performer of traditional toy theatre.

NEW Toy Theatre Site

Lucia Contreras Flores has just announced her new website - Coleccion Teatros de Papel, or Paper Theatre Collection. Currently it is only available in Spanish, but I noticed that an English version is under construction. In any event, it's an amazing website, with an impressive collection on display. I encourage you to check it out!

Flea Circus

This ad video starring a flea circus features props including a miniature or toy theatre...

Theatre Design Invitational

Back in January, an invitational was sent out to design toy theatres. One of the many ongoing participants has shared.

Although these designers normally do more collage than theatre design, many of them are coming along quite nicely...Bravo!

Footlights Update

Last summer, Paul Weighell from Pollock's Toy Museum began machining his own toy theatre footlight shades. He eventually kindly offered to do the same for my theatre.

Here they are, in place. (I used a dollhouse lighting system for my wiring kit - no dimmer, very simple, but quite challenging enough for my first attempt; the bulbs were provided by Ann Neff when she built my theatre, which are 'grain of wheat' types...)

NOTE: I have traditional paper curtains on sheet metal backing to use, but also opted to have Ann include a roll-up curtain rod for which I made the red velvet curtain with beading you see here...

LA Toy Theatre Festival

For those of you lucky enough to be in the Los Angeles area, there is a toy theatre festival coming up in June of this year...

New Dramatis Personae Catalogue!

Dramatis Personae Booksellers have issued their newest catalogue.

Always a great treat, these "leading international dealers in antiquarian books, ephemera, and autographs specializing in 18th- and 19th-century performing arts and popular amusements" have a great variety that will appeal to toy theatre enthusiasts.

You can mail order through them directly, or you can see them at one of these fairs coming up this spring and summer in the US and UK both...

Lighting Adventures

From Ann & George Neff:

We searched all over last April to get short strings of miniature lights. Not easy. I think we ended up with 50's in red, yellow and blue. We wanted to have lights of different colors that we could dim up and down in various combinations. (George would really have loved to have his own complete theatre so he could play with lighting.)

For our big size puppets, we have lots of lights and a big programmable dimmer box. But we needed something simple and transportable. So we asked our electrician to make us up a box. You can see it in the picture with Harry's small computer speaker on top. (Back home, we discovered the charge for making that simple box was over $400! I gotta get some confidence in doing simple electrical wiring.)

But we discovered that the purchased blue lights gave off too little light. So using a larger string, we set about coloring a string of white lights blue to get a "gloomy look" inside the crypt. We located some coloring designed just for that - coloring stage light bulbs. And there sat George, dipping and hanging the bulbs up on a wooden clothes rack to dry.

Voila! We looped the blue lights over the top on a wire mesh screen. And everything was fine. We did the show several times for friends. THEN, as we were packing up on a Sunday night, for the trip the following day, the blue lights just stopped working!!!!!! No fuse blown, other lights fine, circuit was okay. PANIC. I said to George, just pack it up we'll call the company in the morning and see what they say. And then I read that little white paper that comes with most Christmas lights, and it said, "Do not mount on or near metal". Aha! Our metal grid most have shorted out the string! George plugged the blue lights directly in the wall, and they WORKED.

So now the problem was to find a non-metallic grid in only a couple of hours. One of our building contractors was driving us to the airport, so we called him, and he dropped off some rubber boat deck grid, which is what you see in the photo. Things were a bit tense until we set up in Holland, because we really had no idea if this would work, but thanks perhaps to the puppet gods, magic happened and we had "gloomy blue" lights from the top. (We used the plastic grids that the Christmas lights come in, cut up, to hold the series of red, yellow and white lights that go across the upper bars.)

Unfortunately, I did forget to turn up the footlights (white) on one scene, and one of the members of the audience (a toy theatre VIP) complained that the show was underlit. One has to be quite careful in toy theatre. Different folks hold on strongly to different standards. If you look at the Sennewald photos, you will see that Ted Hawkins, particularly, has oodles of regular lights in his set up.

How much light do you get out of your set-up? (Low but very atmospheric!)

I am anxious to see what your theatre looks like now! (I shall post new pics of it after I paint it - see next question...) Did you paint it black? (I'm about to...)

How exciting! Do the lights dim? (No) Or just go on and off? (Yes) Did you put lights anywhere else? (I intend to but was not sure which way I want to go...yet)

How is the glued-on proscenium holding up? (Very well indeed...) Which glue did you end up using? (I used PVC from Gamblin - it has worked amazingly well, no wrinkling, no cracking, no pealing - I highly recommend it...The Gamblin site has much to recommend about this PVC:

"Diluted with distilled water, PVA size is a contemporary size for fabric support. Conservation scientists recommend painters use neutral pH PVA size on linen and canvas instead of rabbit skin glue. PVA provides a good size layer that seals the fabric but does not re-absorb atmospheric moisture, swell and shrink like rabbit skin glue does. There are hundreds of different formulae of PVA. We acknowledge and appreciate the research of the Canadian Conservation Institute that helps painters and conservators identify the best PVA to use. Gamblin PVA Size is made from PVA that has a neutral pH and does not yellow. It also retains its flexibility and does not emit harmful volatiles.")

Have you performed or even practiced yet? (No) Do your grooves work? (Yes) Ours, out of foam core, do. Did you get the old fashioned sliders for the flat side? (I have copper rod from a welding store that will work great for making these slides...) George wants to try that for our next show.

Do you take your theatre up and down often? (not often, but I have several times and it works smooth as silk...) Is it really a bother? (not at all...)

Teaser

I had to smile a big one when this arrived moments ago. Such an imaginative first response from the new site's owner has definitely got me hooked!

Her followup explains a teaser of what we will eventually see...

New Toy Theatre Website

I've been watching this website for awhile now. It looks promising, and I'm currently attempting contact with the site's creator, Kate Irvine. I'll keep you posted...

"Mr. Punch, why don't you steal the sausages?"

New 'Tiny' Performances

During March, the Tiny Ninja Theatre Company present toy theatre productions including a new one for children of all ages based on Treasure Island!

Here's the scoop from TNT themselves...

Sundays, March 16, 23, and 30 at 1:30 p.m.

Tiny Ninja Theater presents Treasure Island
The Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery, foot of First Street, between Houston & Bleecker in Manhattan
(F train to Second Ave, or 6 train to Bleecker)
All tickets $10, available for sale at the door.

Monday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Tiny Ninja Theater presents MACBETH
The D-Lounge
101 East 15th Street, just east of Union Square in Manhattan
(L, N, Q, R, W, 4, 5, 6 trains to 14th St-Union Square)
All tickets $20, available for sale at the door.

Since the dawn of time humanity has struggled with certain fundamental questions:
- What is the meaning of life?
- What is the sound of one hand clapping?
- If you're driving at the speed of light and you turn on the headlights, what happens?
And, most fundamentally of all:
- Who's the coolest: Ninjas or Pirates?
(We hope to answer at least one of these questions at the show!)

Tiny Ninja Theater, best known for its well-traveled productions of Shakespearian tragedies performed by inch-high plastic ninjas and assorted dime-store figures now gingerly wades into the muddy waters of novel adaptation to bring to the stage an original telling of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic Treasure Island.

Best for ages 6 - 106. Older audiences may also enjoy.
Adults without children welcome too.

Then, on the very last day of March, our now-classic rendition of the Scottish Play will return to downtown Manhattan for one night only. (With hopes of future shows to come.)

GWS Does it Again...

I promised more information, and here it is...

The 8th International Toy Theatre Festival will be presented by Great Small Works May 23-June 1, 2008. It will be held at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.

It's one of the largest and most comprehensive toy theatre festivals in the world. If you have the chance to go, be sure and let us know what you think. I'd love to hear back from attendees!

"[Great Small Works has] breathed new, pointed life into the form of toy theater." - Ross Wetzsteon of The Village Voice

Little Theatre of Disease

Only a few more days until an exhibition closes (with a special event - see below).

What's so fascinating about this is where the exhibition and events are being held, and how toy theatre has been used within them.

I love seeing toy theatre used in innovative and exciting ways such as this!

From Daniel Baker comes this delightful reminder:

The Little Theatre of Disease and Desire

On Saturday the 23rd of February, between 2 and 5pm

At the Old Operating Theatre, Museum, and Herb Garret
9a St. Thomas's Street, Southwark, London, SE1 9RY

There will be a workshop for young people, screenings of The Simbysial Case-projected in the Operating Theatre, and new shorter works, that develop the 'paper theatre' construct in different directions.

About the exhibition:

The Little Theatre of Disease and Desire is a new project by artist Daniel Baker, Artist in Residence at The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. The project centres on a paper model theatre, a contemporary version of the toy theatres that were popular during the 18th and early 19th Century in Europe.

Daniel Baker’s theatre has been built to display a series of scenes from a play entitled The Simbysial Case. The story of the play is the story of a disease. The central character is The Patient, a character called The Doctor often accompanies him, and together they try to uncover the nature of the strange illness that The Patient is suffering. The narrative is a journey of discovery: a voyage of mystery and danger that never leaves The Patient’s room. On this journey he meets a cast of unusual characters such as The Two Headed Leech, The Examinator, The Tiny Surgeon, and The Flock of Bloodied Aprons.

Red Moon

"Once Upon a Time tells a tale of friendship, villainy, dreams, and heroism that unfolds in an elaborately crafted toy theater..."

Paper Hat Mystery - SOLVED!

I was wondering the other day why toy theatre performers sometimes wear paper hats. I assumed it was a tradition of some sort, but I didn't know the details. I had a hard time of it finding the answer, but I was persistent, and finally tracked the information below down. Now, it makes perfect sense!!


In The Tenniel Illustrations to the "Alice" Books (Ohio State UP, 1985), p. 18, Michael Hancher mentions several of Tenniel's cartoons for Punch that featured paper hats for workmen (Ref:July-Dec. 1853, p. 169; 6 April 1861; 22 June 1861; 5 Sept. 1863; 4 Aug. 1866)

In the 19th century, square or box-like paper hats were worn in a number of trades: by carpenters and stone masons in particular, but there are references to their use in other trades, as well. Tenniel's Carpenter does in fact wear a carpenter's hat (which seems to have been folded in a different way from any printers' hat I'm familiar with: note the double diagonal creases, characteristic of the former but not the latter). - Terry Belanger, University of Virginia

"...paper hats were made and worn by carpenters, printers, and other artisans to keep sawdust etc. out of their hair..." - From The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Nov/Dec 2003, PAPER HATS

Even later, they were known..."Paper hats were once as common in a pressroom as ink..."

New Talent

I discovered some really FUN (not to mention incredibly talented) artists who are using the medium of paper to make some VERY fun creations, including some that include elements of toy theatre and/or puppetry...

Toy Theatre within Performance

Back in 2005, I did an interview where this guy was mentioned; now I come across a mention online that he'll be performing a rare work, and it involves toy theatre in the production...

Master puppeteer Blair Thomas performs Buster Keaton’s Stroll, a surrealistic, dark and graphic text by Lorca. Thomas creates a one-man band spectacle staged in a giant toy theater with functioning low brass instruments woven into the proscenium.

For those lucky enough to live in or near Chicago, it will be performed twice over the next week or so; see here for more information...

A Very Special Performance

...and speaking of Horatio Blood, here he is with Barry Clarke performing at full tilt during a December 14, 2006 event for the Society for Theatre Research.

From the Society's newsletter, it says this about that event:

A packed-to-capacity audience at the Art Workers Guild Hall in London's Queen Anne Square witnessed a full supporting cast of singers, led by MD., Oliver Davies, perform a reconstruction for toy theatre of one of the earliest British full-scale pantomimes, the 200 year-old Covent Garden production 'Harlequin and Mother Goose'.

This was the Society's first Maggie Collins Lecture and was dedicated to George Speaight, a Society Vice-President and toy theatre enthusiast who died earlier in the year.

Can anyone tell me why they are wearing those square paper hats?

Horatio Reflects on Pollock's 2004

Thankfully, as we know, the demise of the museum did NOT happen, but back in 2004, there were dark days...

MUSEUMS A farewell to Pollock's
By Vera Rule

Went today to say goodbye to Pollock's Toy Museum. Not that I quite believe it will close forever on the last day of March, although the lease expires then, and the trustees haven't been able to negotiate an extension to it or a price for the freehold of the wonky pair of houses at the corner of Scala Street in Fitzrovia, where it has spread up and down since 1969. (It fled Monmouth Street, Covent Garden, when developers leaned on the tenements where it was set up in 1956). But Horatio Blood, loyal servant of Pollock's, the thundering implausibility of whose name sounds like a penny-book hero - Handsome Henry of the Fighting Belvedere¹ - was down in its basement beginning the long pack; and he says that unless they can find a low-rent empty building, or an angel, they're out of here with nowhere to go. They can't believe it either, not when there are house- full notices at the Soane Museum, currently showing Pollock's first joint venture about the Regency toy theatre.

Horatio makes tea, just enough room for the mugs on the basement table between a tin tank and a toy globe. There he was in course of arrangement of the glass case in the doll room, with a big bust of the founder Marguerite Fawdry installed under a paper lace frill, and he had to start boxing- up for homelessness instead. Now they'll have to close the rooms one at a time, work their way up the walls of the stairs, disarranging the contents of the deep frames. They can wrap and reposit the exhibits somewhere safe perhaps, and leave the website up; but this unique atticked place, evolved from donations, will go. That matters to London. Pollock's is our best embassy of the country of childhood from which we are all permanently exiled, and as shabby as diplomatic premises used to be, in fact should be. It intrigues children - it's not designed but accrued, and so exudes the magic of the random, of much past time compressed into these pastimes. And adults who visit feel the melancholy of having put away childish things.

Horatio remarks that Pollock's non-decor survives unreconstructed from Swinging London - not the orange vinyl Sixties, but the Third Great, or Pop Art, Victorian Revival; then we agree that it goes back further. It's Portobellist - that Bohemian mode of collecting emotionally charged objects from the popular past and finding surreal freedom in them displayed in free, or cheap at the time, old shop fittings. It shares with Joseph Cornell and his boxes the making of resounding connections, different for each viewer (this time I looked for the pair of wooden moles on their crawl up the gangplank of a carved Noah's ark). Also it's Orwellian in a benign sense - see his definition in The Lion and the Unicorn of a now-almost-gone England as a nation of absorbed hobbyists², not just controlling model railways but improvising quiet contentment on fourpence.

The exhibits here are all likely valuable, but I've never heard anybody in Scala Street price them or use the word "important" in that auction- house sense. There's scholarship, lightly communicated - the explanations are not didactic theses, they tell good stories with jokes ("very realistic drainpipes" notes the mini estate-agent's survey of a red and cream Thirties detached doll's house with grained front door, which I hope is a listed building since no real home of the era so well preserves the Metroland dream).

Sometimes the captions break your heart, especially now. "Freda and William", reads the luggage label attached to a much played-with Edwardian doll and her teddy bear, a devoted couple since before the First World War, "never parted". On her stiff lap a tag: "Always the same".

Gulp.

Copyright 2004 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
___________________________

¹ - Handsome Harry was created by E. Harcourt Burrage and appeared in The Boys' Standard in 1876. Handsome Harry is actually Harry Marshton, an outcast and the son of Sir Henry Marshton. (Sir Henry turns out to be Captain Brockton, a pirate who was driven to a life of crime and piracy through the evil acts of a dastard) Harry is the captain of the Belvedere and sails it around the world, having adventures in Africa, Spain, Russia and England. The Belvedere is actually owned by the Spanish Don Baptista Salvo, whose daughter Juanita (Harry's future bride) is on the Belvedere with Harry and the rest of the crew: Tom True, the first mate, William Grunt, the boatswain, Samson, the stereotypical African seaman, and Eddard Cutten, the peg-legged seadog. After capturing the Rattlesnake, a pirate ship, they take on board Ching-Ching. Wackiness, as they say, ensues.

² - ...[an]English characteristic which is so much a part of us that we barely notice it, and that is the addiction to hobbies and spare-time occupations, the privateness of English life. We are a nation of flower-lovers, but also a nation of stamp-collectors, pigeon-fanciers, amateur carpenters, coupon-snippers, darts-players, crossword-puzzle fans. All the culture that is most truly native centres round things which even when they are communal are not official - the pub, the football match, the back garden, the fireside and the ‘nice cup of tea’.