Catherine Rooney
Theatre designer PP
I came to the Hand and Glove Puppet mini course, north London, not knowing what to expect and was warmly greeted by Caroline and introduced to other participants. We straight away got on to making a huge puppet head out of newspaper and later on got coached on moving with the puppet, worked in pairs and in the afternoon a choreographer, Wendy, taught us a little about Kinaesthetics. We then build our own ‘space’/stage for our performance out of bamboo sticks and newspaper! This was only the first day! The second day Caroline showed us two different kind of puppets; Lip sync and finger puppet, which we made and then we started to think of a little five minutes ‘piece’ we would like to perform, the following day, to an audience! The whole experience was so exciting, I enjoyed every moment of it, even though it was a little scary at times when we/I didn’t know what I was doing! I never thought I could learn so much in 3 days and enjoy it so much! I also enjoyed the performances of the diploma students but, speaking from a designer point of view, thought the shows could have benefited from specialised lighting,which was not possible to achieve in this venue. Definitely excellent value for money and I am really looking forward to every other mini courses I can attend.
Catherine Rooney
Students are encouraged to feedback about all LSP courses. This is done by means of : questionaires; requested but optional feedback; unsolicited feedback. By this means we are able to keep a check on the standard of teaching, the condition of space and equipment including puppets . We are also able to use student comments to develop new courses and revitalise old ones.
Sarah Jane Checkland
Writer and Journalist
Just to say thanks for a fantastic course. I really loved it (although I am aching from head to toe!) It was so good to get such sustained practice with the puppets, both in terms of operating and making.
Kusuma Vensky-Stelling
Puppeteer
First of all, I would like to thank you for organizing the workshop. I personally find it refreshing as it was long time ago that I had trained this art in my country. Moreover, I think guest lecturers you invited complimented very well to the overall picture of this wonderful art. The knowledge raised in your workshop reminds me that basic principles of the dramatic arts must be taken into account if one wants to create a successful puppetry work. I also like the atmosphere in which there are other works in progress. Your students are very helpful and their works are interesting. They are totally different in their style and presentations, yet they share similar application to the possibilities as well as limitations that the art of rod puppet offers. I did learn a lot just from watching their rehearsals. Please pass on my appreciation to them as well.
Richard Norman
Web Designer and Computer Animater
The mini shadows technique course was quite an eye opener for me as I had no idea what to expect. The environment was creative, friendly and supportive and I learnt loads. The teaching was very hands on and I always felt involved. It was great to finish the 3 days with everyones performance of the work they had created during the course. I think that many of the techniques I learnt on the shadows course will be very helpful to me in my work as a computer animator - after all, it is animation in real time! I am already planning to return for more in the future.
John Payne
Historian, Composer and Puppeteer
The mini shadow puppetry course was a great experience that met and exceded my expectations. The teaching and atmosphere were relaxed. I appreciated the balance between learning, working and performing. The short performance at the end was a great goal to work toward and helped set a working timeline.
What impressed me the most was the caliber of the other participants this course attracted. People’s ideas and energy were and infectious and made for some great original performances at the end of the course. It was great to be able to see the diploma level student work and have them participate in the course. These are the people who will be using puppetry as part of their occupations.
Over all I am now more interested than ever in learning about puppetry and shadow puppetry in particular, so the course was definitely worthwhile for me. I think a de-briefing on the last day could be very useful. I would be interested to know who is planning to continue on in puppetry or how they will use what they learned.
Sorry we couldn’t stay after the show last night. But I have to tell you we were SO IMPRESSED WITH THE HIGH STANTARD AND QUALITY OF ALL THE PERFORMANCES! It was a beautiful, fantastic, mesmerising and moving showpiece! I loved the marionettes, they are Art pieces all by themselves! Also it ‘worked’ really well in terms of space and atmosphere within the Museum! So congratulations!
Please let me know the workshops available next year and of course the Performances!!!
Catherine Rooney
Thankyou for such an inspiring evening last Friday.I was so impressed with the student’s talent.The painting was a fantastic idea for stimulus,it certainly engaged their imagination & creativity.It actually made me miss my contact with young ,creative people.Their imaginations seem limitless.They obviously did a huge amount of research.I was so impressed with the marionettes, & Emma’s almost reduced me to tears.I was particularly impressed with Sophy’s performance.I loved the idea of the skirt as the whorehouse,fantastic.
Angie Kerkham
Lulu Radinger
Film-maker and Drama Teacher
Well my feelings are really positive. I loved the fact that we worked towards a performance on the last day, with not too much pressure but enough to sort of force you into actually making choices which is invaluable. I liked the venue, in spite of the temp! Loved the fact that the children come in and watch. I may have already said this, but I personally learn a lot from the way that you, Caroline, are with the children.
Erm what else? General atmosphere, still that lovely mix between work and relaxedness. How much work did I do? As much as I could I think; I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do anything whatsoever as I’d had to really carve out the space to come at all. Having said that I’m so glad I did come, because I learnt on so many fronts. I learnt from watching others build and perform, from experiencing my own self at work and seeing what I came up with, and from performing to the other students and children. I just found it a really happy and interesting experience.
How will the course enhance my filmmaking and my drama? Several ways I think. In a practical sense this work helps me to be more ‘hands on’. It is important for me to get over perfection barriers through spontaneous making and doing. (I recently made a beautiful costume for one of my daughters which I’m sure is a direct result of working more with my hands.) I will be making a film next Summer and may find this increased creative and practical capability feeds though then as well.
Also, the shadow puppetry shocked me how much like watching a film it is. So that is very interesting for me, especially how image can mix with feeling. I knew in the piece I performed with Helen, that it had to have feeling, and that we had to stay in touch with that as we performed it. And that the pace was important, that it was like music. I am very aware of film being like music. When filming, it’s sometimes tricky to stay in touch with that musical feeling, as the filming process gets so cut up and there are so many pauses in between. So it’s nice to do ‘live theatre’. The course has inspired me to do some more. I think there will be some healthy interaction between these two sides of my work.
I liked the morning workshops. Wendy’s fairy tale work with body shapes gave us a very specific thing to do behind the screen. That way we weren’t just floundering. Fairy tales were a really good choice because we all know them and they contain really simple images. The Flat Stanley was the same - worked well. The monkey puppets were great. Even though I felt that I did pretty badly in that, I felt it was okay. That means the general atmosphere you created was a pretty good, non-judgmental one.
I did get my money’s worth. I’m very glad to be learning from you and the other tutors Caroline!
Sorry I don’t have anything negative to say, or something to point out that could have been done and wasn’t. I like Helen’s idea of the personal processes. Sometimes it’s tricky to verbalise these though.
Helen Pavli
Drama Therapist
Hello. I really enjoyed this course, especially the creative process of ‘Performance’ work…really inspiring for my work as a Dramatherapist and as an ‘artist’ Big Thank you…and keep me posted regarding all London base courses. Helen Pavli
The artists paricipating in the recent Shadow Puppetry and Rod and Table-top puppetry courses included sculptors, film-makers, web-designers, writers and puppeteers, theatre directors and physical theatre practitioners.Their varied contribution enriches the courses making cross-arts collaboration led by puppetry a valuable addition to puppetry training
LSP courses place an important emphasis on puppetry technique balanced with experiment and innovation. The participants themselves are leading the development of these mini courses.
©2007 London School of Puppetry. All Rights Reserved.