Puppetry Performance Weekend Workshop

Overview

Puppetry Performance is a weekend course which will examine some of the multiple forms of puppetry used across theatre and filmed productions. Participants will be introduced to hand, object, rod, tabletop, moving-mouth and Bunraku styles, and to the basic techniques used to animate a puppet.

Puppetry combines elements of design, engineering, illustration, sculpture, painting, performance and fabrication. This workshop will consider each of these elements, while focusing primarily on the performative aspects of puppetry.

On Day 1 we will explore the key attributes and principles used when bringing a puppet to life. We will begin with a puppet that requires no fabrication - the human hand - and develop a vocabulary for considering puppetry performance. From there we will progress to ever more slightly advanced puppets - object, sock, rod and table-top. We will create simplified versions of each and consider their unique performance elements.

On Day 2 we will continue the exploration and advance to working in groups, creating and performing with a 2-person moving-mouth style puppet and ending our exploration with a three-person Bunraku-style puppet.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

- Differentiate between different types of puppetry.

- Describe different types of puppetry techniques.

- Demonstrate the key skills required when giving “life” to a puppet.

- Understand some basic elements of puppet fabrication techniques.

- Analyse and evaluate puppetry performance.

Who the course is for:

- Prior experience is not necessary; the course will cater to all levels of experience.

- People with a general interest in puppetry.

- Theatre-makers looking to incorporate puppetry into their work.

- Actors, dancers and other physical performers seeking to develop additional skills using puppetry as a performance medium for theatre and film.

About the Tutor

Fergus J. Walsh is a puppet artist from Dublin. He has an MFA in Puppetry from the University of Connecticut and has been an artist-in-residence at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. He was part of the Wakka Wakka production team on the show Saga, winner of a Drama Desk award for puppetry innovation, and was the lead puppeteer on the world premieres of The Wind Up Bird Chronicle and The Radio City Spring Spectacular. In 2014, he founded AchesonWalsh Studios, a puppet creation studio providing design, fabrication and direction services, with Matt Acheson. Their clients include Amazon Studios, various Broadway Theatres, Cirque Du Soleil, Disney, Lincoln Center Theater, Radio City Music Hall, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and many others. Fergus is an Associate Professor of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut.

The Lir Academy is a registered charity (RCN: 20076689) and financially independent of Trinity College Dublin. As a non-profit, any box office, commercial or fundraised income goes back into the work we do. This includes financial student supports, mental health supports and outreach programmes to widen access and equality of training to our programmes.

So, your decision to train with us, see a show or become a donor helps keep the actors, technicians and creatives of the future in education. You can see more at thelir.ie/supportus Thank you!