Read yesterday’s post here. Follow with Flickr pics here.

Day Five: Why won’t it dry, puppets in the world, and one f*ing brilliant show

Before I forget, Hilary has started posting stuff on her blog of the events, and she has some fantastic images of puppets that I don’t have. Be sure to check out the one from Hanging the Sky that I saw at the BBQ - it’s the one of the woman holding the blue faceless puppet in sparkly dress. Also, Gary Friedman has been interviewing important puppeteers at the festival, and posted them on his blog; well worth the read! He also mentions the next UNIMA festival, and I’m enjoying this one so much I’m already thinking of saving up to go to the next one! Read his blog to find out where they might be holding it. 

Today was the last day of our bunraku class, and we all tried to finish our heads as much as possible. I spent most of the early morning waiting for the head to dry and ended up using a pie warmer (located in the Blue Room’s little kitchen area) to help things along. We would have stolen (I mean borrowed) our hotel’s hairdryers, but I discovered mine is fairly well attached to the wall… I think I’m going to add putting a papier mache head in a pie warmer as one of the weirder things done in the name of theatre. 

Once it was dry, I cut off the excess edge, making sure to make it flat along the edge for easier gluing. Then I glued the two sides together, burning the seam along the way for added strength. 

Next I cut out a space at the bottom of the head for the neck piece to slot in. That was a pain, because it turned out the back of the head wasn’t dry enough - and I had to keep going anyway. Finally, drilled a new hole in the neck piece, through which a piece of dowel goes (you can see it quite clearly in the picture), which makes the pivot point. 

Last, two holes were made in the head, one at the top back, another at the top bottom. Top back takes the elastic, which runs towards the top of the neck piece (see yesterday’s pics for images of the neck piece). The lower hole accepts the string, which runs through the neck piece down to the trigger.

I haven’t completed the head, being too wet still to tie everything off and insert the dowel pivot; so I’ll be doing the rest at home. 

Class quickly finished, and we said goodbye - temporarily - to Nori, and most of us went back to our hotels to drop off our heads so they’d be safe. Several of us - Kathy, Kristen, Jill and I - went to a panel discussion.

Cross Cultural Journeys

That was the title of the discussion. I wasn’t intending on going initially, but when Nori said he would be there and showing his puppets, I wanted to check it out. The panel was to discuss and explore the notion of puppetry in a world where different cultures are exchanging and interacting. Karen Smith was the facilitator - watchkeeper, as each panelist had ten minutes to talk - and first Massimo Schuster, the UNIMA president, spoke. He discussed his work using different cultural fables and stories, particularly his use of Indian material. Next was Sam Cook, who works with Yirra Yaakin (and happens to be someone I had known via email because of her column at Arts Hub), discussed Australian Indigenous culture and the ways in which Indigenous people are taking back their own culture through the arts. Next Nori spoke, and recounted how he’s travelled from Japan to Europe, and lost his luggage along the way. Finally, Joan Baixas, a Spanish artist, spoke of his work in local communities. 

Along the way, it felt as if no one really had any idea of what the main topic was, although it all related to cross cultural journeys - more like it wasn’t a discussion, but a recounting of each’s personal experience in puppetry. But we got a chance to ask questions, and many of them ended up being about indigenous culture in general. This was fine, but hardly any of it focused specifically on the concept of puppetry in today’s world. 

Once it was over, I introduced myself to Sam - surprised she remembered me! - and took some pics of Nori’s puppets before I left. Check them out at the Flickr file, they’re fantastic! … I went off and had dinner, then went to see Diva. Read the review here.