(Pic: Cover of the publication)Richly illustrated record of this innovative company provides definitive guidebook for puppetry. (Review by Caroline Smart)
Although based in Durban, I have had the privilege of being able to see productions by the groundbreaking Handspring Puppet Company at the National Arts Festivals in Grahamstown. These include Woyzeck on the Highveld, Faustus in Africa, Ubu and the Truth Commission Il, Ritorno d’Ulisse and Confessions of Zeno and each time I’ve been blown away by the skilful puppetry, clever engineering, boundless imagination and breathtaking visuals created through the medium of theatre.
The process bursts the confines of standard theatre categories – is it visual art?, is it drama?, etc. - and creates its own norms. The puppets are respected for their own individuality with names like Puppet Topthorn (War Horse) and Puppet Johnson (Faustus in Africa) or The Miner (Woyzeck on the Highveld) and the massive Puppet Mehmet Ali (Tall Horse).
Handspring Puppet Company was founded by visual artists Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler in1981 to make work for an adult audience and giving themselves “two years to swim or sink”. Winning numerous accolades along the way, they have produced 11 plays and two operas, collaborated with many different artists including Mali’s Sogolon Puppet Troupe and South African artist William Kentridge and opened in over 200 venues in South Africa and abroad.
In 2007, Handspring’s War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo and commissioned by the Royal National Theatre in London, won Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards. The extraordinary success of this production has drawn attention to Handspring’s decades-long experiments and innovations in the art of puppetry and their remarkable contribution to theatre in South Africa.
Produced by David Krut Publishing and edited by acclaimed academic Dr Jane Taylor who works closely with Handspring, Handspring Puppet Company is the first full-length book on the company published in South Africa. It explores their work in adult puppet theatre, from Episodes of an Easter Rising in 1985 to War Horse and applauds the fact that they “have been responsible for a massive transformation of popular attitudes to this rather esoteric medium.”
While this beautifully presented publication will obviously interest those in puppetry and theatre as a whole, it will open a fascinating new world to anyone involved in model-making. The company has been very generous in sharing its creative process from sketches to final product detailing the various problems encountered. Anyone with a sculpture or engineering background will be intrigued by the internal workings and there are plenty of images to provide examples of the complicated infrastructure. Even a maquette by Adrian Kohler of an abandoned idea for the back legs of a horse for War Horse makes for an interesting photograph.
The book becomes a definitive guidebook for puppetry with its advice in terms of breathing, muscle tension, coping with assuming awkward postures and avoidance of repetitive rhythms. The intensity of the puppeteer’s commitment must never be allowed to overwhelm the intensity of the puppet’s performance.
Handspring avoids working with film and TV because the mediums won’t permit the puppeteers being seen. Their work is strictly theatrical believing that the magic lies in knowing that the puppeteer is integrated with the puppet, their faces and body language mirroring the emotions of their charges.
My favourite image is opposite the Preface and shows a superb moment from War Horse, as do most of the photographs of this production. But read on and become engrossed in the world of puppetry from the cases required to transport the puppets, details of costuming, characterisation of the puppets and mechanics of operation.
There’s a fun photograph of Adrian Kohler gleefully tugging the ear of The Hyena and later in full cry as he manipulates The Captain with Busi Zokufa. There’s pain and distress as a distraught Patrick O’Kane holds the fallen Topthorn. Puppets tower above their handlers in the 1988 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dawid Minnaar on hands and knees confronts the Dogs of War (Ubu and the Truth Commission). Basil Jones and singer Julian Podger raise Puppet Ulisse as he draws his bow below an animation by Kentridge. Even hanging backstage, the puppets retain a sense of life, as if they’re simply waiting for the next performance.
Handspring Puppet Company features essays by Jane Taylor as well as other theatre practitioners and writers who have collaborated with the company over the years. These include Adrienne Sichel, Adrian Kohler, William Kentridge, Gerhard Marx, Lesego Rampolokeng and Basil Jones. The book is published in soft cover (R480 - ISBN 978-0-9814328-3-0) and hard cover (R650 - ISBN 978-0-9814328-5-4) – Caroline Smart
In support of this project, William Kentridge has made two limited-edition prints based on his work with Handspring. These are available from David Krut Projects on 011 880 5648 or visit www.davidkrutpublishing.com luke@davidkrut.com
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