From: kafclown-AT-well.com
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 12:12:49 -0800 (PST)
Subject: CZECH PUPPETRY


In 1993 I was in Prague working with Czech clown Ctibor Turba.  While there
I saw a production of FAUST in an old oil drum building  (I don't know if
it was really an oil drum, but that's what it looked like)  A friend of
mine (Milos Forman -- not the director, but a teacher and performer of
puppetry) performed in it.  He did a puppet version of what was going on on
the live stage.  He had a walkaround puppet stage strapped to his chest
like a cigarette girl with a false arm so that he could operate the puppet.
The other thing that I vividly remember from the Production was that the
floor of the set was a kind of chain fence that could move up and down.
There was a hole in the center of the floor, and actors would pass from one
level to another by going through the hole and stepping through. Then the
floor would be hydraulically lifted again up and out.
Is this the Jan Svankmajer  FAUST?  I didn't know who directed it.
Scenically it was amazing.

I later saw the Forman Brothers (the film director's sons) and Milos Forman
(puppeteer, no relation) do a Punch and Judy show in Pilzn.  (I actually
did a little opening number for them)  Their Punch and Judy was fantastic.
Performed in Czech, English, and Spanish, with live music, we saw Punch go
>from being a puppet to being a person to a puppet again.  Very funny stuff!

I was sorry to have missed the Forman Brothers when they were in NY.

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