From: "Puppet People" <puppetpeople-AT-nycap.rr.com>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:59:05 -0400
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] actors vs. puppeteers


I am an excellent character actor and I am fairly decent with a 
marionette...so there are no definitives
Michelle
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Frith" <hb-AT-compnet.co.uk>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2008 5:36 AM
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] actors vs. puppeteers


Where you start is with the particular needs of the piece of theatre. Does
the piece require a puppeteer (and if so with what particular puppetry
skills)? Does it require a character actor? Does it require a mask performer
(and if so commedia trained; full-head; noh? etc etc).

Most of the cited problems vis-=E0-vis actor versus puppeteer goes back to
lack of clarification about the needs of the piece of theatre. Auditioning
is precisely about defining this need. It extends beyond technical skills
too - is the person experienced in touring, in rigging, in working within a
small/large team?

Each of these roles is highly specialized, and on that level there are often
big differences between actors and puppeteers. It's very difficult to find
individuals who have a wide range of technical and other skills, and in many
way the demands on a character actor are very different to, say, working a
marionette.

Bob Frith
Horse + Bamboo Theatre



-----Original Message-----
From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org [mailto:puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org]
On Behalf Of Mark S. Segal
Sent: 27 September 2008 22:12
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] actors vs. puppeteers

This kind of discussion always (for want of a better word) amuses me. Or
perhaps frustrates would be better, or may be it is really a go nowhere kind

of thing.
I was trained as an actor, I acted "professionally" for a few years before
starting my Puppet Theatre. Have learned more about acting from being a
puppeteer then I ever learned as an actor.
Think it is a great failure of an actor's training program not to include
puppetry as a theatre art or for that matter mask work, tap dance, mime etc.

Anything that can feed a performer's tool box.
Don't know anything about what a puppeteer training program is like. Would
hope that it includes all of the stuff an actor needs with an emphasis on
puppetry as the medium of communication.

But just as there are egotistical (elitist) actors (and other theatre types)

there are the same in puppetry.

I prefer working with someone who understands the language I speak -
theatre/performance.  Don't care about their background.
There is no ego in that (good theatre) - of course my favorite stuff is
ensemble. How can good performers have ego? My acting teacher stressed
humility as an essential actor's tool. Now she did not care for puppetry but

her mentor (teacher) did. So???????

Don't think that we are adversaries. Ya know one versus the other.

My general audience are kids (with their teachers or care givers) my main
show is about taking care of teeth. Have been doing that (as a mainstay) for

a long time. If it were not done with theatre values, if it were not done
with a concentration on performing and communicating with/for an audience it

would not have been as long lasting. If my puppets were not good actors then

they would not resonate with the audience.

I am a performer. Puppetry is my medium, teeth are my theme. This is frame
work.
Have just re worked my show and think it is the strongest and best one yet -

but of course feel that way every year.
And every performance is something new.

Actors vs puppeteers? there is no difference. Puppeteers are (or should be
actors) actors are (or should be puppeteers) or at the very least have a
doorway open so that one can learn from the other.
Mark S.




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Archives: http://www.driftline.org 

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