http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPTUA_wdp78
Okay, for starters, I need to once again address how important the Jim Henson company was to me when I was a child. The TV show Dinosaurs was a mainstay of my young adult life; ever Friday night, my parents and I would watch the show and be equally entertained. The clip is from the ending of the final episode of the series, in which the dinosaurs know they will become extinct due to their destrucion of the environment. My mom cried at this episode as I did and still do. Several years ago, I found all four seasons for sale at Target. I spent the then unnecessary $50 and have been reentertained. This is a prime example of "Children/Adult Puppetry." It's just good. Enjoy the clip and the trip down memory lane.
http://www.mudeyepuppets.org/
I found this company, Mudeye Puppets. They specialize in not only educational puppetry, but education about self-esteem. The 9-year-old puppetry company has performed in libraries, classrooms, and parades. Bruce Orr (who I believe has been referenced in the textbook somewhere, but I can't give you a definite page number) began the company as a PSA-type show, but the incorporation of newer artists and a changing world have made the show evolve into a type of "S.O.S. Players of puppetry" that not only educates about everyday topics, but also teaches puppetry workshops. They sound quite cool. Read about them and their cleverly-named puppet friends.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
"Whobu? Ubu."
I find the most interesting example of puppetry can be found in the show Ubu Roi. The entirety of the show is a monumental and stalwart hallmark of puppetry in performance.
Beginning in 1888, Ubu was formed to be a show that mocked playwright Alfred Jarry's (and his classmates') physics teacher. The teacher must have been a ridiculous tyrant in practice, because the show's protagonist is anything but a protagonist. In the grandest example of an anti-hero I think I've ever encountered, Ubu parodies Shakespeare's Macbeth, Richard III, and Hamlet only with more bloodshed (metaphorically speaking), less Scottish accents, and more dirty jokes... Yeah.
The show's graphic depictions of characters being flushed down toilets, stabbed, impaled, and torn in half to death is both comedic and at the same time terrifying to think of in the scope of the real world. Due to this, Jarry's initial attempts to perform the show ended in rioting, leading to the show's close after its initial performance. Jarry revised the show, all but removing the actors and inserting puppets, specifically marionettes to be Ubu's victims. This would turn out to be the wisest move Jarry would make in reference to Ubu; the play caught on like wildfire, and has since been used as a social critique of ANY tyrannical idiot in power.
Numerous productions have been done since Jarry's death at the age of 34 (that's 1907, folks), and in fact there are two sequels that were performed, but never caught on--Ubu Cuckolded and Ubu Enchained--because they were never performed with Jarry's direction. Enclosed, you'll find the link to a live-action version of Ubu using actual actors in Commedia del'Arte masks. I hope you'll enjoy it (although, you probably won't unless you speak French. Which I don't. But I still like it. And even if you don't like it, I'll still like you. Unless you don't like it.).
Ubu Roi
Beginning in 1888, Ubu was formed to be a show that mocked playwright Alfred Jarry's (and his classmates') physics teacher. The teacher must have been a ridiculous tyrant in practice, because the show's protagonist is anything but a protagonist. In the grandest example of an anti-hero I think I've ever encountered, Ubu parodies Shakespeare's Macbeth, Richard III, and Hamlet only with more bloodshed (metaphorically speaking), less Scottish accents, and more dirty jokes... Yeah.
The show's graphic depictions of characters being flushed down toilets, stabbed, impaled, and torn in half to death is both comedic and at the same time terrifying to think of in the scope of the real world. Due to this, Jarry's initial attempts to perform the show ended in rioting, leading to the show's close after its initial performance. Jarry revised the show, all but removing the actors and inserting puppets, specifically marionettes to be Ubu's victims. This would turn out to be the wisest move Jarry would make in reference to Ubu; the play caught on like wildfire, and has since been used as a social critique of ANY tyrannical idiot in power.
Numerous productions have been done since Jarry's death at the age of 34 (that's 1907, folks), and in fact there are two sequels that were performed, but never caught on--Ubu Cuckolded and Ubu Enchained--because they were never performed with Jarry's direction. Enclosed, you'll find the link to a live-action version of Ubu using actual actors in Commedia del'Arte masks. I hope you'll enjoy it (although, you probably won't unless you speak French. Which I don't. But I still like it. And even if you don't like it, I'll still like you. Unless you don't like it.).
Ubu Roi
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