File puptcrit/puptcrit.1001, message 42


From: Simon Palmer <simon-AT-illustrated-history.net>
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 21:21:00 +0000
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Puppet versions of Strindberg's "A Dream Play"?


Though not puppet productions, Robert Lepage and Robert Wilson's  
versions of A Dream Play may be of interest to puppeteers. There is a  
review of the Lepage production here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/strindbergs-dreamy- 
box-of-delights-1621299.html

I'm sure Google will unearth more information. There is a useful  
essay "Beyond the Director=92s Images - Reviews and Views of Robert  
Lepage=92s Production of A Dream Play at the Royal Dramatic Theatre" by  
Willmar Sauter that discusses a number of critical (journalistic and  
academic) reviews and essays, and in the process approaches to  
production design, development and meaning. There's also a photograph  
of the performance:

Sauter, Willmar, The Theatrical Event : Dynamics of Performance and  
Perception (Studies in Theatre History and Culture), University of  
Iowa Press, 2000

Here are some reviews and essays for/on Robert Wilson's production:

http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html? 
html_title=&tols_title=DREAM%20PLAY%20(PLAY)&pdate=20001130&byline=By% 
20BRUCE%20WEBER&id=1077011429806

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_6_37/ai_54050188/

http://web.archive.org/web/20050308232518/www.tnr.com/011501/ 
brustein011501.html

To make (to risk making) a broad point, I'd have to say that  
puppeteers too often look to other puppeteers for inspiration. How  
come the pattern for a new puppet is invariably puppet-shaped? I love  
this on Strindberg's nervous breakdown from the Brustein piece above:  
"Among his many curious delusions was the conviction that he was  
being tortured by feminist witches. He was convinced they were  
pumping gases into his body by means of an infernal electrical  
machine through the walls of his hotel room." There is an abundance  
of clues to the materials and methods, aesthetics and ethics,  
stagings and strategies for a performance with puppets in this  
fragment alone (it refers to an episode pre-dating A Dream Play but  
could be seen as the ground of his later work).

I can also recommend the chapters on Dream Plays in Strindberg's  
Dramaturgy, particularly "Theories and Practice in Staging a Dream  
Play" (Ingvar Holm), "Staging a Dream Play" (Egil Tornqvist) and  
"Directing a Dream Play: A Journey through the Waking Dream" (Susan  
Einhorn) and also the more general essay "Strindberg's Dream-Play  
Technique" (Richard Bark). A small amount of lateral thinking will be  
required, none of these essays mention puppets...

Strindberg's Dramaturgy, Goran Stockenstr=F6m, editor, University of  
Minnesota Press, 1988

Hope that helps.
Simon


Simon Palmer
Illustrated History
+44 (0) 161 611 0739
+44 (0) 7944 804414
www.illustrated-history.net
www.doodleblog.co.uk




On 5 Jan 2010, at 22:02, Bell, John wrote:

> Thanks to everyone who so far has responded to our query!  Your  
> responses are greatly appreciated!!
>
> john bell
> ________________________________________
> From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org [puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org]  
> On Behalf Of Simon Palmer [simon-AT-illustrated-history.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 2:23 PM
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Puppet versions of Strindberg's "A Dream  
> Play"?
>
> Photographs from A Dream Play here:
>
> http://geoweb.civilisations.ca:8001/WebZ/GeacFETCH?
> sessionid=01-45780-1138332923&recno=1&resultset=1&format=F&next=html/
> geacnffull.html&bad=error/
> badfetch.html&&entitytoprecno=1&entitycurrecno=1
>
> and here:
>
> http://geoweb.civilisations.ca:8001/WebZ/GeacFETCH?
> sessionid=01-45780-578242220&recno=1&resultset=1&format=F&next=html/
> geacnffull.html&bad=error/
> badfetch.html&&entitytoprecno=1&entitycurrecno=1
>
> links to other photos here:
>
> http://theatre.civilisations.ca/narratives/details.php?
> lvl2=4810&lvl3=4818&lvl4=5329&language=english
>
> There's another photograph of Woyzeck in one of the UNIMA
> compendiums, the last one (I think) Die Welt des Puppenspiels?
>
>
>
> Simon Palmer
> Illustrated History
> +44 (0) 161 611 0739
> +44 (0) 7944 804414
> www.illustrated-history.net
> www.doodleblog.co.uk
>
>
>
>
> On 5 Jan 2010, at 18:27, Steve Abrams wrote:
>
>> Ronnie Burkett supplied this information-
>>
>> I found a wee bit of info on him in the Canadian Theatre  
>> Encyclopedia:
>>
>> http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Mirbt%2C%20Felix
>>
>> He was a huge force in his time, and I wonder if he ever gets the
>> credit he
>> is due in puppetry.  He certainly paved the road for me in terms of
>> working
>> on legitimate stages for adult audiences.  The 1970's were such a
>> rich time
>> of activity in Canadian theatre...oh, the glory days when the arts
>> were
>> actually funded!  I never met Felix, but have friends who worked
>> with him.
>> By all accounts he was a passionate, difficult, interesting man,
>> always
>> innovative.
>>
>> If I can find any photos of the production I'll send them your way,
>> or if I
>> encounter someone who worked on the show I'll let you know.  My
>> best friend
>> here (a puppeteer), as well as a neighbour (who is now a theatre
>> director),
>> both worked with Felix on a production of Woyzeck when they were
>> young men.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Ronnie
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 1:11 PM, Bell, John <john.bell-AT-uconn.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>  My graduate assistant here at UConn, Joe Therrien, is interested in
>>> mounting a puppet production of Strindberg's "A Dream Play", and
>>> wonders if
>>> there have been other puppet productions of this drama.  Does
>>> anyone on the
>>> list have any advice about this?  Thanks for your attention!
>>>
>>> Yours,
>>>
>>> John Bell
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>>> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
>>> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
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