Pop-up: Circus

The shots below (pardon the flash reflections on some shots - the lighting conditions were less than ideal - are from a reproduction pop-up book published by Penguin Books in 1979. The book - Lothar Meggendorfer's "International Circus", first published in 1887 - also has the name of Rodney Peppe associated with it.

Dramatis Personae Catalogue No. 110

The new Dramatis Personae catalogue is out.

As usual, I highly recommend you give it a perusal - many toy theatre-related ephemera for sale, prices ranging from the humble to the expensive...

Victoria 4 Albert

A true love story, told in Victoria's own words...

A series of  films incorporating stop motion, toy theatre, etc. have recently released, entitled Victoria 4 Albert.  The films were commissioned to accompany an exhibition currently ongoing at Kensington Palace.  The narration on the films are Queen Victoria's own words, taken from her diaries.  Charming!

Boxcar Fair

A sweet, short story told with puppets and music, featuring automata and puppet maker, Tom Haney.

Top Hat Toy Theater Presents...

David Worobec, a Boston Conservatory student and creator/owner of Top Hat Toy Theater, is the man behind a recent series of adaptions of musicals for the small stage.  In the videos shared here, David performs Rogers & Hammerstein's South Pacific.  David does all the voices and sings all the parts in his production, quite a feat!  As one person recently put it, "David has a terrific operatic voice, and his one man show is definitely unique."

He has had a long love affair with toy theatre; David was a featured performer in Great Small Works' toy theatre festival back in 2003 when he was only 14 years old!

The Devil and Mr. Punch

This is NOT your Grandfather's Punch!

A collaboration between UK and US individuals and groups, performances are happening now at the Barbican;  US productions were performed in two locations last year -  Minneapolis in May, and Philadelphia in September; the production evolved as it went along.

Read more about the wonderful people behind the show, including a lovely interview with the director where he talks about the history of Punch.  Also, the Barbican's 'behind the scene' article, "That's the Way to Do it!"

While Punch is normally not performed as a toy theatre production, I have a weakness for the old scroundrel!  I did find at least one play for the small stage for him, by Langdale, however...

Dramatis Personae Catalogue 109

The latest Dramatis Personae catalogue is out!

As always, this amazing quarterly ephemera sale include several vintage juvenile drama-related items of the highest quality.

Several juvenile portraits are being offered, including one by Skelt (1836), two by Fairburn (1835 and 1838), and one by Jameson (1818).

Also in this sale, are some scene sheets, and a German book from 1915 about putting on toy theatre productions.

Please note that Dramatis Personae have a large inventory of items not necessarily in the sale itself.  Take a look at them; I found on a casual look through a few pages, for example, a penny plain portrait by Hodgson, c. 1827...

Poe-Dunk Matchbox Theatre

The mind boggles at the small scale!

Playlab NYC will present Poe-Dunk – A Matchbox Entertainment as a part of the 2012 FRIGID New York Festival.

Kevin performs a matchbox production

Kevin P. Hale, one of the founding members of Playlab NYC, is the creative mind behind these exceedingly small toy theatres.  Kevin has a blog where he explored openly shares his concepts and explorations - it makes pretty interesting reading!

Some characters are performed via matchsticks!

Kevin will be presenting a series of tiny-scaled plays based on the tales of Poe, including one called "The Oval Portrait":

The story was originally published as “Life in Death” and is the shortest of Poe’s stories. It was also the inspiration for Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. The actual story of the portrait only takes a single paragraph to tell, and everything else leading up it that story seems like filler. It was precisely because it was Poe's shortest work that I thought it would lend itself well to matchbox treatment.

Despite the tiny scale, color and design abound!

Doctor Parnassus Toy Theatre

I recently began watching the incredible film, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS. I did some research on the film, and lo and behold, someone has made a wee toy theatre kit based on the traveling theatred featured in the film!

Puppet Film Project

I encourage you to view the trailer, then support Andrew's film project, PuppetVision: The Movie.

Christmas Creativity

A scene from a recent toy theatre adaption of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol"...

This year, Macy's famous storefront displays are using a Steampunk theme for Christmas, with puppets!

Alice: 3D becomes 2D

I wrote about the Alice Theatre previously, when it was being offered in a 3-D format.

Now, the creator has made it available in good old fashioned 2-D.  You can print and use as a traditional theatre (which is amazing enough), but they also demonstrate how it can be inventively used with other images for photography prints!

Story Behind the Story

I wrote about this before...

The above clip is from a new documentary explaining who the artists were that created the huge, wall mural depicting a very LARGE toy theatre several stories high!  It's the story behind the story...

A Small Christmas

The Thorne Collection is getting dressed up for Christmas!

Here are a few slides showing this miniature collection being decorated for the holidays...

Dollmaker Extraordinaire

The two Alices on their Wonderland toy theatre stage...

Rebeca Cano makes amazing dolls, yes, but she makes much more than dolls.  She makes an entire world for her dolls down to the smallest, most exquisite detail.  It is truly a joy to behold.

"...she came upon a low curtain she
has not noticed before..."

Before she began making dolls, Rebeca had never sewn.  Hard to believe when you see the incredible miniature clothing and other textiles she creates.  She is mostly self-taught, which I greatly admire.  Inspiration can be a powerful motivator.

Right now, she has a sale on, of a toy theatre tableaux featuring her favorite story character, Alice in Wonderland.  It is an ongoing project of hers...

The project is designed to be exhibited in a museum of contemporary art, as yet undefined.  All my dolls have their origins in a tale that I believe; I like to give soul to my dolls, and that is why I started in this world.

You can read more about Rebeca here and see more of your dolls here...

Another Toy Theatre Mural!

The Toy Theatre is a mural created by artist Peter Waddell on a wall at 1914 Sunderland Place NW at New Hampshire, a block south of Dupont Circle, in Washington, DC...

Occupy Puppets!

I love how the Occupy movement is inspiring people of all sorts to communicate about building a better society. It's what most people want...

Toy Shop Virtual Tour

Anthropomorphic Taxidermy

I don't know about you, but I think anthropomorphic taxidermy has a great power to convey stories and ideas. I adore them...

Theatre Centenary

Nigel Peevers shared this recently:

The Lyceum Theatre in Crewe was 100 years old this year and for their centenary they had a specially commissioned light show projected on the front of the building...in one of life's weird little coincidences I'd already been telephoned and asked if they could use some images from my toy theatre book in the show.