The Routledge companion to puppetry and material performance

375 Pages·2014·66.38 MB·English

by  edited by Dassia N. Posner

Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.
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The Rourledge companion to puppetry and material performance I edited by Dassia
N. Posner, Claudia Orenstein, and John Bell.
pages em
I. Puppet theater. I. Posner, Dassia N. II. Orenstein, Claudia. Ill. Bell, .fohn, 1951-
IV. Title: Companion to puppetry and material performance. V. Tide: Puppetry and
material performance.
PN1972.R68 2014
791.5--dc23
201.3049987
ISBN: 978-0-415-70540-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-85011-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Goudy
by Taylor & Francis Books
Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.
To our children:
Sophia and Isaac Posner,
Caleb and Sophie Carman,
and Isaac Bell.
Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
List of Figures x1
Notes on Contributors xvi
Acknowledgments xx1
Foreword by Kenneth Gross xxm
Introduction 1
DASSIA N . POSNER, CLAUDIA ORENSTEIN, AND JOHN BELL
PART I:
Theory and Practice 13
EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY JOHN BELL
Section I: Theoretical Approaches to the Puppet 17
1 The Death of "The Puppet"? 18
MARGARET \X!ILLIAMS
2 T he Co-Presence and Ontological Ambiguity of the Puppet 30
PAUL PIRIS
3 Playing with the Eternal Uncanny: The Persistent
Life of Lifeless Objects 43
JOHN BELL
Section II: Perspectives from Practitioners 53
4 Visual Dramaturgy: Some Thoughts for
Puppet Theatre-Makers 54
ERIC BASS
5 Puppetry, Authorship, and the Ur-Narrative 61
BASIL JONES
..
VII
Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
6 Petrushka's Voice 69
ALEXANDER GREF AND ELENA SLONIMSKA YA
7 "Clouds Are Made of W hite!": The Intersection of Live Art and
Puppetry as an Approach to Postdramatic Children's Theatre 76
RIKE REINIGER
8 Movement Is Consciousness 84
KATE BREHM
9 The Eye of Light: The Tension of Image and Object in
Shadow Theatre and Beyond 91
STEPHEN KAPLIN
10 The Third Thing 98
JIM LASKO
11 Post-Decivilization Efforts in the Nonsense
Suburb of Art 105
PETER SCHUMANN
PART II:
New Dialogues with History and Tradition 111
EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY CLAUDIA ORENSTEIN
Section III: Revisiting History 115
12 Making a Troublemaker: Charlotte Charke's Proto-Feminist Punch 116
AMBER WEST
13 Life-Death and Disobedient Obedience:
Russian Modernist Redefinitions of the Puppet 130
DASSIA N. POSNER
14 The Saracen of Opera dei Pupi: A Study of Race,
Representation, and Identity 144
LISA MORSE
15 Puppet T hink: The Implication of Japanese Ritual
Puppetry for Thinking through Puppetry Performances 154
JANE MARIE LAW
16 Relating to the Cross: A Puppet Perspective on the
Holy Week Ceremonies of the Regularis Concordia 164
DEBRA HILBORN
Vlll
Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
Section IV: Negotiating Tradition 177
17 Traditional and Post-Traditional Wayang Kulit
in Java Today 178
MATTHEW ISAAC COHEN
18 Korean Puppetry and Heritage: Hyundai Puppet Theatre
and Creative Group NONI Translating Tradition 192
KATHY FOLEY
19 Forging New Paths for Kerala's Tolpavalwothu Leather Shadow
Puppetry Tradition 205
CLAUDIA ORENSTEIN
20 Integration of Puppetry Tradition into Contemporary Theatre:
The Reinvigoration of the Vertep Puppet Nativity Play after
Communism in Eastern Europe 218
A
IDA HLEDIKOV
PART III:
Contemporary Investigations and Hybridizations 225
EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY DASSIA N. POSNER
Section V: Material P erformances in Contemporary Theatre 229
21 From Props to Prosopopeia: Making After Cardenio 230
JANE TAYLOR
22 "A Total Spectacle but a Divided One":
Redefining Character in Handspring Puppet
Company's Or You Could Kiss Me 245
DAWN TRACEY BRANDES
23 Reading a Puppet Show: U nderstanding the
Three-Dimensional Narrative 255
ROBERT SMYTHE
24 Notes on New Model Theatres 268
MARK]. SUSSMAN
Section VI: New Directions and Hybrid Forms 279
25 From Puppet to Robot: Technology and
the Human in Japanese Theatre 280
CODY POULTON
.
IX
Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
26 Unholy Alliances and H armonious Hybrids: New Fusions
in Puppetry and Animation 294
COLETTE SEARLS
27 Programming Play: Puppets, Robots, and Engineering 308
ELIZABETH ANN JOCHUM AND TODD MURPHEY
28 Return to the Mound: Animating Infinite Potential in Clay,
Food, and Compost 322
ELEANOR MARGOLIES
Index 336
X
Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.
LIST OF FIGU RES
1.1 Pierret (1973). Photo courtesy of Philippe Genty Company 19
1.2 Tragedi.e de Papier, created and first performed by Yves Joly (1956).
a
Photo: © Yves Joly and courtesy of Theatre de Ia Marionnette Paris 20
1.3 Piccoli Suicidi (1984): Creator and performer Gyula Molnar with sweets
and a glass of water. Photo: © Francesca Bettini 21
2.1 Cuniculus, Stuffed Puppet Theatre (2008): Neville Tranter and pal.
Photo: © Michael Kneffel 32
2.2 Twin Houses, Compagnie Mossoux-Bonte (1994): performer Nicole
Mossoux. Photo: © M ikha \Xlajnrych 35
3.1 "Doubt as to whether .. . a lifeless object may not in fact be animate" :
T rudi Cohen in Great Small Works' Tenor As Usual: Episode 7: Metro
Section (1993). Photo courtesy of Great Small \Vorks 47
3.2 Freud's "discarded beliefs" in the active power of objects came back
not in the form of primitive culture but as avant-garde performance:
Maryann Colella in Bread and Puppet Theater's Things Done in a Seeing
Place, Glover, Vermont (2013). Photo courtesy of the author 51
4.1 Between Sand an£1 Stars, a collaboration among Sandglass Theater,
Gemini Trapeze, and Rob Mermin (2003) based on images from
Antoine de St. Exupery's Wind, Sand and Stars: as the pilot lost in the
desert struggles to make his way through endless sands, the
marionette's lifelines are visible. Photo: © Richard Termine,
[email protected] 57
'
4.2 Un Cid, Compagnie Emilie Valantin (1996). Photo: © Hubert
Charbonnier 58
5.1 Confessions of Zeno rehearsal, The Dance Factory, Johannesburg (2002):
puppets designed by \Villiam Kentridge and made by Adrian Kohler
and Tau Qwelane. Photo: © Ruphin Coudyzer 62
5.2 The cast of War Horse at the New London Theatre (2009): puppets by
Handspring Puppet Company. Photo : © Brinkhoff/Mogenburg 65
6.1 Petrushka, Vagrant Booth Theatre. Photo courtesy of the authors 70
7.1 Mrs. Sun and Mr. Moon Mal<e Weather, Deutsch-Sorbisches
Volkstheater Bautzen (2007): performers Christian Pfi.itze and
Christiane Kampwirth with the model stage. Photo courtesy of
the author 79
7.2 Mrs. Sun puppet (2007). Photo courtesy of the author 80
7.3 Performer Susan \X!e ilandt and the rainbow (2007). Photo courtesy of
the author 80
.
XI
Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.
LIST OF FIGURES
8.1 Early sketches of the performing scenery (which itself functions as a
puppet) and its transformational frame: designed by Kate Brehm. Image
courtesy of the author 85
8.2 Later sketches of the performing scenery, including a wall of windows:
designed by Kate Brehm. Image courtesy of the author 86
9.1 Photo montage created by and courtesy of the author 92
9.2 Traditional shadow troupe in rehearsal, Northern China (1936), Pauline
Benton Collection. Photo courtesy of Chinese Theatre Works 96
10.1 Rice paper and bamboo constructed spectacle objects for
Redmoon's All Hallows' Eve Ritual Celebration (October 1997) on the
streets of Logan Square. Photo © Katja Heinemann 99
10.2 Performers manipulate large-scale puppets, masks, and objects during
Redmoon's Frankenstein parade (September 1995) at Chicago's Navy
Pier, soon after the North Avenue parade. Photo © Tria Smith 101
10.3 Actors in Dis/Replacement take their positions on the stages perched
atop a twin forklift engineered for Redmoon's Urban Interventions
Series, here seen on a street corner in the Wicker Park neighborhood
of Chicago (summer 2012). Photo © Christina Noel 104
11.1 Drawing by Peter Schumann (20 12) 106
11.2 Drawing by Peter Schumann (20 12) 107
11.3 Sleeper puppet, from Bread and Puppet Theater's Things Done in a
Seeing Place, Glover, Vermont (2013). Photo courtesy of John Bell 108
12.1 Inspired by Charke's tale of stealing her brOther's and father's clothes
to imitate her father, the engraving reads, "An exact Representation of
Mrs. Charke walking in the Ditch at four Years of Age, as described by
herself in the first Number of the Narrative of her own Life, lately
published" (F. Garden, 1755). ©The T rustees of the British Museum 117
13.1 Demon puppet from The Fm·ces o.f Love and Magic (1916): puppet design
by Nikolai Kalmakov. Image reprinted from luliia Slonimskaia,
"Marionetka," Aj)ol/.on (March 1916), PSlav 122.5, Houghton Library,
Harvard University 135
13.2 Nina Simonovich-Efimova and Big Petrushka (1930). Photo courtesy of
the Museum Archive of the Obraztsov State Central Puppet Theatre,
Moscow
1~
13.3 Nina Simonovich-Efimova, the witches of Macbeth (1931). Photo
courtesy of the Museum Archive of the Obraztsov State Central
Puppet Theatre, Moscow 141
14.1 Saracen soldier created by Vincenzo Argento. Photo courtesy of the
author 147
14.2 Saracen trick puppet designed to split in half, created by Vincenzo
Argento. Photo courtesy of the author 149
15.1 A rare example of a body substitute known as an amagatsu (heavenly
child): these infant-shaped effigies were used widely in the T6hoku
region of Japan to safeguard newborn infants against illness, sudden
death, and disease by serving as surrogates (from Morioka, lwate
prefecture, 1988). Photo courtesy of the author 156
..
XII
Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.
LIST OF FIGURES
15.2 Members of the Awaji Puppet Theatre in Fukura, Japan, perform the
Ebisu-mai (a deity play) at its traditional location of Susaki Island in the
Fukura Harbor (August 1991). The use of lwroi<o, though not traditional
for this play, shows the dominance of this theatrical medium today.
Photo courtesy of the author 162
16.1 The Cloisters Cross: English; twelfth century; walrus ivory; 22%" 14 y. ";
X
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection, 1963.
Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reproduction of any kind
is prohibited without express written permission in advance from The
Metropolitan Museum of Art 169
17.1 Kitab Sucineng Manusa, performed by Purjadi, Bodesari (March 14- 15,
2009): Bathara Guru (center) consults with his vizier Narada (left).
Photo courtesy of the author 184
17.2 Sigit Sukasman (1937- 2009) explaining wayang visual theory in his
studio (April 26, 2009). Photo courtesy of the author 186
17.3 Rehearsal for Berlian Ajaib, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta (March 3,
2009). Photo courtesy of the author 188
19.1 A forest scene from the traditional tolpavai<oothu performance, Kerala,
India Ouly 21, 2013). Photo courtesy of the author 208
19.2 Ramachandra Pulavar (center) with his family, holding up both new and
traditional tolpavakoothu puppets, Kerala, India Ouly 22, 2013). Photo
courtesy of the author 212
19.3 Backstage after an off-season ritual tolpavakoothu performance: the
puppet of Hanuman wears a dhoti cloth given as an offering; Kerala,
India Ouly 21, 2013). Photo courtesy of the author 214
20.1 Ve1tep, Bryzhan Family Theatre, Chmelnickij, U kraine (premiered
1995): Director: Sergij Bryzhan; designer: Michail Nikolaev; from left:
Olga Bryzhan, Natasha Bryzhan, and Sergij Bryzhan. Photo courtesy of
Sergij Bryzhan 221
20.2 A Christmas Mystery, Rovenski County Puppet Theatre, Rovno,
Ukraine (premiered July 1, 2000): Director: Sergij Bryzhan; designer:
Michail Nikolaev. Photo courtesy of Sergij Bryzhan 222
20.3 Resonances, Chmelnickij County Puppet Theatre, Chmelnickij, Ukraine
(premiered July 1, 2003): Director: Sergij Bryzhan; designer: Michail
Nikolaev. Photo courtesy of Sergij Bryzhan 224
21.1 "A \X! onder of Wonders ... ," 1651 broadsheet recounting the story of
Anne Green © The British Library Board General Reference Collection
E.621(1 1). Image published with permission of ProQuest. Further
reproduction is prohibited without permission. Image produced by
ProQuest as part of Early English Books Online. www.proquest.com 233
21.2 After Cardenio, University of Cape Town, South Africa (2011):
Dylan Esbach as Cardenio; vellum puppet made by Gavin Younge;
Marty Kintu as primary puppeteer. Photo: © Ant Strack 2011,
www.antstrack.com 238
21.3 Puppet by Gavin Younge; Marty Kintu as primary puppeteer. Photo:
© Ant Strack 2011, www.antsrrack.com 238
X Ill
Bell, John, Posner, Dassia, and Orenstein, Claudia, eds. Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 February 2015.
Copyright © 2014. Routledge. All rights reserved.