Date: Sat, 01 Mar 1997 11:26:35 +0000
From: Robert Smythe <mum-AT-philadelphia.libertynet.org>
Subject: Re: scripts and non-verbal performance


DAVID L LERNER wrote:
>Pantomime IS tricky, but it is all but impossible to
> tell a complex story w/out speech.  And if you intend your puppetry
> for adults you need more complicated stories.

Dear David, 

I have made my career out of performing non-verbal puppetry for adult
audiences. Like any theatre form, this variant requires training and
knowledge, but it is anything but impossible. Johan Vandergun's Lampoon
Puppettheatre, Coad Canada Puppets and Henk Boerwinkel's Triangel
Puppentheater, to name just a few companies, produce work that is richly
complex and interesting.

I have found that working without words enables the audience to explore
the world the puppeteer creates even more fully. By specifically
limiting an interpretation of what the audience sees through the use of
language, the performer really reigns in the imagination of the
audience.

I note that in discussions of using language in scripts so far on this
list, language and scripts are used primarily for human characters in
predictable situations (i.e., situations in which human beings might
find themselves, whether in reality or fantasy). It is interesting how
quickly, once language is removed, the performer and the audience can
together describe other possibilities.

Robert Smythe




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