Bettina Girotti In this article I analyze a series of performances, developed since the 1950s by Mane Bernardo and Sarah Bianchi, that uses the puppeteer’s bare hand, which led to the creation of a technique called pantomime of hands. [1] I will examine the limits of the traditional definition of puppet and the practices it encompasses, along with the notion of experimentation proposed by Bernardo, an idea marked by the tensions between traditional and modern puppet theatre. I aim to place this new technique among others that contributed to the modernization of the puppet theatre in Argentina. Bettina Girotti holds …
Category: Uncategorized
Pictures and Puppet Performance: Peter Schumann’s Bedsheet Paintings
John Bell Late in his life, and influenced by the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of his wife Elka, and his frustration with the persistence of US-supported wars around the world, Bread and Puppet Theater director Peter Schumann began a new phase in his art and theatre making by creating hundreds of paintings on discarded bedsheets, and then using them in different ways in Bread and Puppet productions of the early 2020s, especially productions focused on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The article argues that this reflects Bread and Puppet’s continuing interest in exploring new forms, as …
PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Dracula: Lucy’s Dream and A Dolls’ House
Dracula-Lucy’s Dream. By Plexus Polaire and Puppentheater Halle. Director Yngvild Aspeli. Dramaturges Ralf Meyer and Pauline Thimonnier. Inspired by Dracula by Bram Stoker. Theatre du Blavet, Inzinzac-Lochrist, France, March 10, 2023 and La Patinoire, Avignon, France, July 7-24, 2023. A Doll’s House. By Plexus Polaire. Directors Yngvild Aspeli and Paola Rizza. Based on A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. Bayard Square, Charleville, France, September 16-17, 2023 and Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne, Dijon France March 12-20, 2024. Yngvild Aspeli, the artistic director of French-Norwegian company Plexus Polaire, believes that puppetry can hold its own as theatre—not just as a subgenre. Her productions …
CONFERENCE REPORT: Portrait of the Puppeteer as Author
Portrait of the Puppeteer as Author: Second International PuppetPlays Conference: Writing Practices for Puppets in Western Europe (Seventeenth – Twenty-first Century). Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France, 23-25 May 2023. This report provides an overview of the second PuppetPlays project conference that explores authorship and what constitutes a play script in a broad range of historical and contemporary puppetry. The review includes a link to the conference page that has videos of all conference sessions in French, Italian and English as well as links to artist pages. Alissa Mello, PhD, is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Exeter …
WORKSHOP REPORT: Wayang Workshop
Wayang Workshop: Balimodule, Denpasar, Bali, May 2-7, 2023, UNIMA-USA and University of California, Santa Cruz A workshop in Denpasar in May 2023 by I Nyoman Sedana and I Made Georgiana Triwinadi introduced foreign theatre practitioners to Balinese wayang kulit. Instruction focused on four character types and culminated in a performance based upon Arjuna’s Meditation. The workshop included visits to noted Balinese dalangs (puppet masters) at their sanggars (home studios) and performances of topeng, kecak, and trance dance enacted within temple contexts. Karen Smith is a recent President of UNIMA-USA. As a member of UNIMA International’s Executive Committee, she has been …
Revitalizing Wayang Puppetry through Creative Lighting
Lighting is a very important element in wayang kulit (shadow puppetry). The use of modern lighting effects in wayang sometimes can actually weaken the appearance of the puppets because they are overshadowed by the glitter. The identity of Balinese wayang, with its aesthetic and symbolic values, demands lighting of a high capacity to illuminate, according to the form of the puppets, in a heightened style, creating a dramatic atmosphere via scenery or background in order to accommodate the shift in contemporary puppet audiences who tend toward realism.
Tutur Candra Bherawa: A New Balinese Theatre Work
I Gusti Putu Sudarta and I Gusti Made Darma Putra Pakeliran Tutur Candra Bherawa (Performance of the Teachings of Candra Bherawa), produced in April 2022 in Denpasar, Bali, was a total theatre performance exploring traditional theatre using song in storytelling. The melodies and vocals were not confined to Balinese and Javanese traditions but borrowed from South Asia’s Sufi qawwali and other spiritual song sources. The form was presented in the Balinese sangita (sung drama) form, which combined singing, instrumental music, puppetry, and dance. I Gusti Putu Sudarta has trained as a musician, composer, dancer, and dalang from his childhood in …
Cenk Blonk’s Balinese Shadow Puppetry During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Dru Hendro and I Made Marajaya Cenk Blonk (I Wayan Nardayana) is Bali’s best known shadow puppeteer (dalang). His moniker is the composite of the names of his two favorite punakawan (clown) characters, Cenk and Blonk. During the COVID-19 pandemic, using his Cenk Blonk Channel on YouTube, he presented a series of simple, ten-to-twenty-minute scenes, featuring clown characters. These were meant to educate the public around issues of COVID-19 and promote social distancing in the Balinese community. Dru Hendro is a graduate of and teacher at the Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI, Indonesian Arts Institute) in Denpasar, Bali. His extensive writings …
Surya Sewana in Balinese Wayang Wong Performance at Sanur Village Festival 2022
I Made Sidia Balinese see puppetry as the model and source of dance drama. A dalang (puppeteer) responds flexibly to the change from puppet, to masking, to human dancers and suits the needs of those seeking his/her expertise. To revive tourism, which had fallen due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 Sanur Village Festival (Sanfes) took the theme Surya Sewana (Glorifying the Sun). As a dalang, the author I Made Sidia, created a wayang wong (literally,“human puppetry”) performance staged at the festival telling the Ramayana story of the hermit Resi Wiswamitra, Rama, and Lakshmana carrying out the Surya Sewana ceremony …
Bhatara Kala: Sacred Myth in Balinese Wayang Parwa Shadow Puppetry
I Dewa Ketut Wicaksana, Ni Diah Purnamawati, and I Dewa Ketut Wicaksandita The sacred story of Bhatara Kala (God of Time) is presented for the sapuh leger (sweeping impurity) in Balinese shadow puppetry. The tale is derived from lontars (palm-leaf manuscripts) including Kala Tatwa (Reality of Kala), Kala Purana (Myth of Kala), and others. This symbolic story, related to magico-religious thought, provides guidelines for the community. This paper discusses five narratives in lontar versions of the tale, then notes the interpretation/analysis provided by Dalang I Made Sidja, a senior puppet master of the Balinese wayang tradition. Some of these ideas …
