From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Mathieu_Ren=E9?= <creaturiste-AT-magma.ca>
To: <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org>
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2006 07:25:44 -0500
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] shakespeare and puppets


>> If anyone is interested, this year I was asked to write and direct a
> "non-verbal" Hamlet for a company in Denmark.   We used masks and four 10 
> foot
> puppets. The puppets evolved when someone died and joined Hamlet's father.
> Premiered officially last week.   33 minutes.   This can be produced 
> again.
>
> Larry Hunt
> MASQUE

Hi Larry Hunt.
That sounds so cool!
I'd love to see that show someday!
Hey, welcome to the list! I never made the link with your email adress 
before.
I recently saw your news interview/video on maskmakersweb (4 times), and I 
must say I'm very impressed. I especially love the bite masks and the masks 
over masks.


Back to Shakespeare and puppets:

I have seen the Tempest, directed by Petr Matasek, in 2004, when they came 
to queec for a puppet festival,  honoring Czech puppetry as a theme.

The sets were impressive, but the overall feeling was cold (matter of 
personal taste here, nothing wrong with a cold set). It was probably wanted, 
it was mostly cool-lighted metal, plastics, and projections).  Ariel was 
portrayed by both an actress in costume, and a giant 3D flag in the shape of 
a face blowing some wind waving the giant flag when she was manifesting her 
powers).
Caliban was a weird acrobat entwined endlessly in what seemed like a dozen 
inflated black rubber inner tubes.  What contorsions! Fun!

The Actor playing Prospero was mighty and powerful without showing any hint 
that he was making an effort. That was impressive.
Trinculo and that other drunken guy looked like two clones of the big one in 
Laurel and Hardy. I wish I could have understood Czech especially for that 
section. I felt there should have been laughs in the audience duriong their 
speeches, but most everybody was in the same language boat as I.

The lovers were actors, but their death scene brought puppettry movements 
with clothes and I think a mannequin. It was very poetic, with a nice hint 
of suggested macabre.

I was however very disapointed that this Master puppet maker (Matasek) had 
only included one "real" puppet in his version of the show. She was amazing 
though. Lifesize, amazing sculpture. Prospero's daugther, I think. I never 
saw any version of the Tempest before, the show was in Czech, and I don't 
understand a word of it. Thankfully, they had an explanatory text in english 
before the show. Kind of a spoiler, but at least we knew a bit of what was 
going on.

I think I should read the play.
Or go see another version of it, in english this time.

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