Midsummer Night's Puppets & folding boxes

You may know that there is a production of Midsummer Night's Dream on at Bristol Old Vic, done in collaboration with Handspring, the puppet company involved in the stunningly creative stage production of Warhorse http://www.handspringpuppet.co.za/

How was it? Well it was by no means a seamless collaboration, even a bit clunky in places. But the thinking behind the puppets was always inspiring. Minds had been let fly free. So what if they occasionally alighted on something that didn't quite come off in the actualisation.

At its best, it was thrilling and laugh-out-loud daring. Puck, made up of tools and various bits of kit, materialised and dematerialised, and flew around the stage like an anarchic banshee. And Bottom's transformation into an ass was astoundingly, shockingly imaginative. I imagine if you went round to the house of the designer, it would be a treasure trove of half-made articulations and survivors from the bottom corners of innumerable skips, waiting for their moment in the spotlight.

Midsummer Night's Dream, Bristol Old Vic

 

Like with Amy Macdonald, I found myself looking at the lighting of the stage set. I loved the wooden scenery structure (back right in the photo above) and the way that light played in it.

I am currently fiddling with some folding paper boxes, based off Chinese thread booklets and developed by Ruth Smith. My friend M and I are exploring these for an up and coming playday, using them as elements on cards. The stage lighting gave me some ideas for decoration, although I suspect I shall have to go the whole hog and get out some adigraf (a soft version of lino and brilliant for printing from) to create some motifs of my own, instead of using a bought roller.

 

 

It may be difficult to see the connection between the box and the inspiration. I suppose it's just a spark of an idea that then gets a momentum of its own. And things live that way. (Lining paper dyed with Procion MX dye, pattern rollered on using acrylic paints.)