A proppet...

A 'proppet'... a cross between a puppet and prop... as coined by the gracious and talented Alida van Deventer.  The beginnings of the Snow Goose which the young girl finds in the marshes...  The inciting incident.

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Ciao Newspaper Man

Last night our movement studio was turned into a little puppet theatre.  Visiting Australian puppeteer Jenny Ellis took us through her wonderful work and then we made our own newspaper puppets...  Trying as best we could to apply a few puppetry principals - giving the figure weight, breath and articulation.  It was such fun...  It was a short workshop so the work we did for each other was totally improvised and totally funny.  These crazy little figures coming suddenly to life.  This is Vika, me and Barbara and our little dude... Ciao Newspaper Man.

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A late night tea party

The brilliant and talented Alida Van Deventer sits and works late into the night painting butterflies and dragonflies.  The stuff of childhood stories... when the beetles shine their shells, the centipedes put on a hundred pairs of shoes, the crickets play music and the butterflies and dragonflies dance dance dance.

The pirates who stole Christmas

My phone bill came to an astronomical amount over December and January - I think much of it had to do with the fact that I was trying desperately to upload a video that I made with my Niece and Nephew - a task that is still incomplete! But you'd think I was running an empire and not a little blog!

A kind 'reader of queries' suggested that I upload my video to Youtube and then share with Blogger - yes I will do that and thank you stranger and friend. But here's what the phone bill fuss was all over... As an early Christmas present I went to the fantastic Parkview toy store down the road and brought hand made fabric puppets for my niece and nephew... There was much excitement about the little lone parcels under the brightly decorated tree - presents that they could open Right Now - being still 'so many sleeps till Christmas!' With a choice of Pirates, Doctors, Nurses, Goldilocks, the Three Bears, Lions, Crocodile's, Giraffe's... we made made up a story... starring Ella (nearly 5) and Hugo (just 7)... a simple event driven puppet show... this is the first of what is sure to become The Pirate Adventure Series... 'Crocodile and the Three Bears.' Hugo thought up the title and most of the storyline. I just had to remind them about the point of each scene. They drew and coloured in the scenery... The concept of 'rehearsing' was just too bizarre - so total improvisation is the only way to go - I love youth... incorporating dialogue, setting, movement - even a sneaky fart - into what is a divine little story of the naughty pirates who tried to steal Christmas. For our first 2010 adventure - we're planning The Pirates trip to the Moon and Mars!

Hannah Montana Gone Bad

So after we've brought all the extras, collected the third camera... comes the most important question for a YouTube party... where to hang the projection screen for the evening viewing...
Outside? Inside? Definitely outside. Yes it's a blazing hot day with not a cloud in the sky and there's a lovely big projection wall where we can hang the screen. Right. Nick: So I'll nail the sheet right here... into the 1cm wide water pipe. Nice. So now there's a small water fall running down the wall and onto the patio floor. Super. It's Saturday. It's 2 hours before the party is due to start. Nick is off to the hardware down the road for HELP... I'm still setting up the studio's... Tick-Tock.
After what felt like a 5 hour long 30 minutes Nick is back and playing Bob the Builder and blow torching the wall. Jack is shooting a pellet gun. Lulu is barking. Amelia is asking if everything is going to be okay. Agnes is mopping the small dam that is formed where everyone is expected to sit. The tortoise is still nowhere to be seen. And the cat is shouting the odds. The torching done and it's time to test if in fact we'll have water for the 16 girls about to arrive. Tick-Tock.

What was a gentle waterfall is now a full on fountain that sprays right over all the seats... almost in slow motion... Everyone is tasked to fill every bucket, basin and bath. Nick is tasked with periodically going around and flushing toilets. Ding Dong.
The girls all arrive and Nick gives a fabulous funny brief welcome and introduction. It starts with watching some super cool YouTube video's to get everyone in the world... and ends the the key insight... Nick: I only want a B minus today - not an A plus - here the silly the mad and the stupid rock! And the three teams go into production...
1. Brainstorm the story
2. Draw the storyboard
3. Make the puppets and backgrounds

4. Rehearse
5. Shoot the movie
6. Participate in a crash course of editing
7. Edit
8. Export the movie
9. Create the DVD
All activities where closely monitored for time to ensure that by the time the parents arrived at 7:30pm for the viewing we were ready.
7:30 and we're still editing. Ding Dong - the parents start arriving. I hurry everyone up and start to export, create the DVD and up load... 15 minutes says the computer 'estimated time remaining.' Nick is making the critical decision - for the second time - Inside or Outside? The clear blue sky is now pregnant with low hanging cloud. Outside - it's not actually raining! '10 minutes estimated time remaining.' The parents are here... everyone is waiting and the computer spits out the DVD... 7:50pm.
And we're rolling - everyone rolls around in laughter and amazement at what has been created in 5 hours... we have a fabulous funny awards ceremony and amazingly 8:15pm and everyone is gone. The heavens opened!
I uploaded all three to YouTube... Here is 'Hannah Montana Gone Bad' which won best movie - it is super cool.

Rock on.

I am a Vampire

Today is Amelia's 12 birthday party - and we are having a Youtube party... we are setting up 3 'studio's' with loads of material for them to create their own puppets to tell their 1 minute story and enter the WWW! 3 camera's - 3 computers - 3 teams... 5 hours!

This is the movie Amelia (my almost stepdaughter) and I made (with the help of Jack, Melie's brother - responsible for the garlic... Hanna, Melie's friend - responsible for the Vampire girl... and Nick - responsible for setting up the camera and the story) in almost 5 hours... so today we have to be much more on the ball with time.

Gone are the days of Kissing Catchers... Musical Statues... Truth and Dare... bring on Youtube!

The Octopus from Untangled

This is a tiny exert from the show 'Untangled' - the Octopus - the way he pushes himself up and cowers and retracts and moves only the tips of his tentacles... it's simple and that's all there is to his story. A puppet aquarium - goose bumps every time he swam on. He is such a fab puppet - made and manipulated by the wonderful Alida van Deventer.

Polystyrene, paper mache and a bit of paint...

We built the shadow set for Weekend Special - it was so much more complicated than what I'd initially thought! We worked with Alida Van Deventer who is much more logical and plans thing carefully 'if you want to do them properly' - which we really did! It was a bit like making a dress...

First we started with the visual references - always a very good place to start... to get the general vibe, shape and colour of a township... Alexandra in Johannesburg

Then we made the pattern of how it should look - the size, number and character of the different buildings - then we went through so many different options of material...

and arrived back at the beginning with trusty old polystyrene...

which we sanded, paper mache'd, layered with cardboard and painted...

All this while Jaap (Alida's husband) spent hours looking at a clothing rail that the broken up pieces of structure had to fit on... and then of course come off again... he had to make an impossible puzzle!

And of course he did... and here is our set... it took us 4 full weeks to make.

All the little windows light up... it's very sweet... This is the choir scene...

My sisters favorite line is "...Lerato, get out of the wheelbarrow."

Marionette magic...

The 'Maggogies' unrequited love story (from our show 'Untangled' manipulated by the brilliant Alida van Deventer)... Children shriek with laughter at the gangly legs with which he struggles to walk and the googly eyes with which he checks her out... and adults laugh at the subtle truths in their intimate exchange.


The oh so serious jumping hoping a'ccapella choir - my favorite item in the whole show... Leaves children asking 'how could they sing like that?'

Next year we're starting a new childrens show - but this time a shadow show called 'The Big Tortoise and the Baby Hippo'