I recently finished making my first shadow puppet. As you can see. It turned out ok!

The design is based on ‘Frog’ by Japanese Edo period artist Matsumoto Hoji. The original 1814 woodblock image can be found in the online archives of the British Museum.

I thought the gloomy little guy would make a perfect silhouette thats full of character to make my first ‘test’ shadow puppet from.

I can’t remember a time when I haven’t been into the idea of shadow puppets and puppet theatre.

When I was about 9 or 10 in Year 4 at school we got split into groups to make, write, and perform a ‘Georgian Home Theatre’ style play. Pollock’s Toy Museum in Fitzrovia London is a fantastic day out if you’ve never been, and has lots of examples on display.

As a teenager I saw folktale storytellers telling folk tales with shadow puppets down on the beach i the evening during Broadstairs Folk Week one year.

Then at university in the early 00’s, I studied Indonesian Gamalan for 2 years culminating in a final performance at the Royal Festival Hall. An event that gave me the oppertunity to meet an IRL Dalang and experience Wayang Kulit for the first time. Now in my mid 30’s this post is now the 4th post about puppets and puppet theatre on the blog.

Seeing shadow theatre performed live – is for me – a magical and romantic experience. For most of my adult life I’ve found my self talking about shadow theatre in conversations late at night with friends about our creative aspirations. This summer whilst sick in bed with Covid I realised that I should JFDI.

I have some ambitious plans. The project is an wrapper for a whole bunch of new skill’s I’d like to learn. There is (I think) a lot that could be done with shadow theatre in 2021. Especially with the ease of access to realtime virtual game engines and the uptick in mixed media experimentation.

I’ve decided to document the project and journey end to end. I go in to quite a bit of detail as I haven’t found any blogs or step by step guides aimed at grown adults out there.

This first post covers material testing and the techniques and lessons learned whilst making the first test puppet based on Matsumoto Hoji’s Frog.

These two books by David Currell have been invaluable resources!

Shadow Puppets and Shadow Play in particular has been an invaluable guide to the design, construction, manipulation and presentation of shadow puppets and theatre of all kinds. It’s a very inspiring book!

Gloomy Frog

Step 1: The Silhouette

I made a quick and dirty high contrast version of the image from the British Museum and printed it out.

I used a fat marker pen to re-outline the silhouette adding in the missing curve of the hind leg. Then I coloured Frog in with a Sharpe and cut him out.

💡 At this stage it occurred to me that I should have flipped/reversed the image. So the remains of the stuck template would be facing the screen when performing.
💡 This became a better and better idea as I was cutting out the puppet. As I as the puppeteer would always be looking at a ‘clean’ silhouette.

Step 2. Materials

Big shout out to the team at my local art shop.

My friend Claire works there and to be honest I’ve seen them more in the last couple of weeks than in the decade since we last worked together at the bookshop. All the staff in the shop had opinions on what material I should use to make a shadow puppet from when I popped in. I explained that I was thinking the max size of a puppet (for now) could potentially be upto about 30-40cm.

In the event, I came home with both 1mm and 1.25mm thick mounting board. I made a couple of easy straight line test cuts on both materials with a scalpel and sharp scissors. The 1.mm board it turned out after being cut into was far to flimsy to make up the core of a shadow puppet.

I know all I did was cut out a square. But I learned some important things about working with the material.

The 1.25mm thick board is DENSE. It’s definitely going to be my ‘go to’ material for making future puppets. It will definitely stay ridged (unsupported) for puppets up to 50cm in size.

On the down side, the boards density meant that it took early 8 passes with scalpel blade to cut cleanly all the way though the material (foreshadowing).

I also tried cutting along a pre-existing scalpel score line with a pair of sharp paper scissors, but this turned out to be an absolute no go. Cutting right to the tip of the scissor blades caused the outer layer of the mounting board to tear ahead of it. Bad. Unexpected.

💡 The material is perfect to make robust shadow puppets from!
💡 Warning bells about working with this ‘perfect’ material should have been ringing louder at this stage. 8 passes with a scalpel 🤔

I stuck Gloomy Frog to the board material and left him to dry.

Step 3. Cutting Out the Silhouette

I went back to Pullingers before even attempting to cut the thing out with my small scalpel.

We talked about maybe trying a different handle for my scalpel set. But in the end I came home with a trusty fresh Jakar Cutting Knife. Mainly as the blades are more robust and it has a bit more of a ‘body’ to put more force onto when cutting.

Things started out well…

I very quickly I ran in to a problem.

Because of the boards destiny, even with the cutting knife it was still taking 3/4 passes to cut cleanly though. Trying to cut the whole silhouette out in one go was not going to happen as I couldn’t tell what had been cleanly cut, and which part of the line still needed additional passes.

So I ended up cutting the flash off in sections.

It solved my problem, but I risked cutting into the Frogs edge.

So I started curling up the flashing as the cuts went though the material, which allowed me to make the cuts much longer. And see/know where the cut had made it all the way though the material.

After I got about this far around the frog I occurred to me that a pair of embroidery scissors might also be a useful tool, especially for sharp turns and the detail on the feet. I could cut just to the side of the silhouette and then clean it up with either my cutting knife of scalpel.

After living in a shared household in my early 20’s and a very sad incident involving fabric shears. I have a policy that goes something like ‘Use my sewing stuff for anything other than sewing and I’ll cut YOU with them’. So the next day I went out and bought second pair of embroidery scissors.

💡 Pro tip: If you scrape off the plastic injection mould lines from a tool like this, it will turn it from a £4 tool to one that feels like a £10 one.

I was really pleased with these embroidery scissors. Combined with the curling/bending technique things went faster, with minimal clean up required after with a blade. So I was able to cut his belly out, and toes etc in about 5mins vs the 20mins it would have taken me with a blade.

💡 It took me two evenings to cut this whole shape out the first evening just with the cutting knife left my hand cramping from the force I was applying to the blade. I had to wait a couple of days before I could think about going back to it.
💡 Have a craft knife, and sharp small scissors to hand before beginning to work with 1.25mm mounting board! If your going to do this at home!

I forgot to take a photo here as I moved right on to the eyes.

Step 4. Eyes and More Materials Testing

When cutting out the eye, it quickly became clear that due to the problems working with the material I’d already experienced, these more precise detailed cuts were going to be difficult….

So I ended up cutting the first eye out completely.

I then re-attached the mounting board eye with some strong electrical tape.

Given that I’d stuck the eye back on with electrical tape, it occurred to me that for future puppets I could do lots of fine line work (like Javanese puppets have) with electrical tape? For inner silhouette work and perhaps the main body of the puppet could be made from mounting board and have detailed edges cut from electrical tape.

Anyways thats for a future project!

It worked fine!

As expected using a scalpel on electrical tape was lovely to work with and I’m going to explore this further. Knowing that this *is a thing* means I can build it in to future puppet designs.

💡 When cut with anything other than a knife this material is left with a slightly fuzzy fibrous edge that needs addressing with a scalpel.

Step 5. Mouth and Aluminium Wire

From the very start of the project I wanted to test out ways of attaching things to the mounting board. Aluminium wire (of various gauges) is an important element of making various movement mechanisms for shadow puppets.

I didn’t want to make any moving parts this time around, but I did want to get an idea of the effort involved in attaching wire to a puppets body. So I cut the aluminium wire with a pair of pliers and bent to shape.

Currell’s book suggests punching holes though the body of the material and then using strong thread to ‘sew’ it on. So thats exactly what I did.

The aluminium wire does have a little bit of a flex and bounce from the join to the main part of the body of the flog. It gives the little guy a bit of life independent from its characterful silhouette.

But there was too much give. So I added a few small drops of superglue. It soaked into the thread and ensured that the wire was fixed to the body without excess wobble.

I was really happy with how the puppet was turning out and I took him into the other room to show Eve who and held him up to bedside lamp to get a feel for what he looks like.

After looking at the shadow in differnt situations, I made a couple of small tweaks to the puppet. Including: clearing up all the outer edges with a scalpel to remove ‘fuzzies’.

I also reshaped the back leg sightly and open up the gap between the hind and front leg using the embroidery scissors.

Step 6. Attachment + The Control Rod

Currell’s book ‘Shadow Puppets and Shadow Play’ documents lots of methods for puppet control. From fixed rods, hooks, hangers etc

The method I thought was most straight forward was with Velcro. Though Currell does indicate that Velcro as a solution has diminishing returns the bigger/heavier a puppet gets.

Given that the frog is a test puppet and only 22cm tall, I thought I’d get a feel for it and see.

The first decision was around ‘what kind’ of velcro. I have loads of cable management type stuff laying around the house, so my initial thought process looked something like this:

But honestly, I wasn’t sure that it was going to be the right type. So another trip back to Pullingers was taken to look though their extensive velcro selection. I bought a box of Velcro Branded Self Adhesive Stick on Tape. Unfortunately they only had white, but I didn’t mind, as I thought it would make the attachment point(s) easier to see in the dark during a performance.

The puppet has the velours side stuck too it, and the rod will have the hooks. This will make the rod interchangeable with other puppets I make in future. It will also mean that swapping puppets during a performance should be a quick and easy change.

The control rod was made from clipped, bent and cut down clothes hanger wire.

My wire cutters wen’t strong enough to go all the way though, so I cut the wire as best I could and then made the ‘break’ by bending it backward and forward.

I straightened the wire with two pairs of pliers and spent the whole time wishing that I owned a small desk vice. After drilling a hole into a piece of wooden dowel I glued the wire into the handle.

I was planning on using a glue gun to attach the Velcro hooks to the end of the wire (which I have bent at a 45 degree angle – but this might change).

Whilst I was cutting the self adhesive hooks to size it occurred to me I could just skip that step and stick two pieces together over/around the rod.

This is working adequately and It’ll do for now. We’ll see how robust it is long term.

The velours on the puppet is also just using the self adhesive. This will do for now too.

How well it all lasts when it comes to repeated use and performance is worry for future Jaymo.

This is the completed rod. I won’t be using steel coat hanger wire again.

💡 It’s rainy Autumn now here in London. I’m going to keep an eye out for a broken umbrella on the street. I have a feeling that umbrella rod would be perfect for the second iteration of the control rod.

I attached two separate location points on the Frog to see how the puppet handles when controlled from the bottom or the top. Its interesting to ‘feel’ how it needs to be held depending on which location you are attached to.

A lot to learn still. A lot to consider for future puppets.

Step 7. Results

Honestly I’m SO pleased with how he turned out!

Just look at the little guy!

So gloomy.

When you see the ‘living’ shadow on the wall it has so much character.

Next Steps

I’ve learnt a lot making this puppet, and tbh, can’t wait to move on to the next one.

Dragonfly

I think I’m going to make a dragonfly shadow puppet next.
As a character it will work well as a high energy foil to the character of the Gloomy Frog.

I was thinking of using this CC0 image as the basis for the silhouette.

I still intend to make the dragonfly out of the same mounting board. But I think this time I’m going to avail myself of the expertise of the folks at my local maker space and also use their lazer cutter.

The dragonfly is also going to be more ambitious. I’d like the tail to articulate and also try and get the wings to flap.

I also think I’m going to design the dragonfly in Blender, as the MakerLab need the print file in .dxf format. Also, if I’m going to reach my stretch goal (below) I’ll need a 3D object thats 1:1 to the real thing.

Backgrounds

As I mentioned in an episode of my podcast recently, I’ve started learning Unreal Engine.

My intention is to have realtime stylised backgrounds projected from a portable pico projector on the screen and also casting the puppets shadow.

Maybe using a game controller or a USB pedal I’ll be able to skip forward and back though scenes/action events all running in realtime.

I’m imaging the Gloomy Frog sitting by a river bank with cell shaded water running by, with dappled sunlight around him. Also a scene where the dragonfly flies high in the air with things like clouds rushing/wooshing by.

Machine Vision

I’ve just backed the OAK – D lite spacial AI camera on kickstarter. Its an incredible little bit of kit coming from/made by the OpenCV team.

My ambitious mental stretch goal is to have the puppets tracked by the camera.

This would open up all sorts of possibilities for the shadows to interact with parts of the world, and trigger things like particle effects etc.

I’m gonna need a lot of time and patience when it arrives in Dec to figure it all out! But i’m excited for the challenge.

The Screen

Before I can do any kind of performance I will need to make a screen for the shadows to be thrown onto and for the portable projector to be projected on. This is kinda low down the priority list for now as I have so much Unreal Engine to learn.

The screen may also go though several iterations once the OAK camera arrives. A trip to my local Fabric Land is going to occur soon though! LOL.

For now I may just use a piece of fabric and knock something together from a green screen poll set once I have the second puppet made/built.

I can then at least begin writing/practicing rehearsing the short story. As that will influence the scenes I make in Unreal.

Anyways, thats it. Nearly 3k words about a very simple shadow puppet I made of a frog.

This project is really exciting/engaging to me. It has given me the excuse to finally learn how to 3D model things, use Unreal and when the camera arrives I’ll also be trying to learn python for the second time. It is all in all, a fun little project that I’m spending my time on.

As I said at the top: I’ve been TALKING about making and doing shadow puppets for so long, there is something satisfying about finally ACTUALLY doing something with them!

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The post The Gloomy Frog | Puppet Project Pt1 appeared first on thejaymo.net.

The Puppets in the Drama House (Tholpavakoothu)

Continuing with my interests in puppetry; I finished reading Inside the Drama-House: Rama Stories and Shadow Puppets in South India by Stuart Blackburn this week.

An anthropological study of the little-known Kerelan shadow puppetry tradition called Tholpavakoothu. Their performance of the Tamil version of the Ramayana and its significance.

There is a great deal of skill and physical stamina required of the performers. As it takes place during the night – night after night. A complete story cycle during festival season can take up to ten weeks 

What’s even more remarkable is that by and large the performance takes place without an audience.

Let me reiterate. Every year at temple sites across Kerala, puppeteers enter a temple complex annex known as the Drama House. Then, for up to 70 nights in a row perform a story that last for 500 hours or more. With additional commentary and scholarly contextualisation throughout the performance. All from memory … with nobody watching. 

In the main, an audience is usually around on the first and last nights. Temple servants, dignitaries, and wealthy patrons that sponsored the festival / performance. But after the first few hours and heard their names they will drift away. 

Each performance also includes a break to chant petitionary prayers from local people. Who donated one rupee for the privilege during the day. A prayer chanted to an empty temple, but also to get your name in the credits iIsuppose.

Tholpavakoothu is a compound word of three Malayalam terms. thol, meaning leather, pava, meaning doll, and koothu, meaning the play.

I’ll put some pictures in the shows blog post, but I’ll try to describe it as best I can.

The performance takes place in a 42 foot long room called the Drama House. 42 is a number correspondent to 24 in Vedic astrology which means to embrace the help of ones ancestors.

There is a large open along the long edge of the building. A sheet is then hung from the roof on the inside to create the screen. There is a lovely line in the book that says the curtain goes up when the screen goes down.

At the beginning of the performance a lamp is carried from the temple to light the lamps of the Drama House. An exchange takes place, and the lead puppeteer will take the temple lamp and light 21 lamps inside. Each lamp is made from coconut halves filled with oil to throw the shadows against the screen. 

Whilst not mentioned in the book, it’s interesting that sacred light is brought from the temple into Drama House. This act transforms the performance into ritual. 21 in Vedic astrological magic represents prosperity, abundance and spiritual lessons. The number 21 is also associated with karmic reward and can clear Karma.

There is something important about the Ramayana story being performed under these conditions. Karma is cleared throughout or perhaps by the performance of the Ramayana. A story that (by and large) is about how Rama for Sita’s love transcends the physical and marital into a love that is spiritual. It’s a story entirely about Karma. Kerelen’s by the way don’t worship Rama as a God. He is of the Gods but not one of them.

So we have the lights and the drama house. But what about the puppets?, the leather dolls?

Usually constructed from deer or goat skin they are about 4 feet tall. So not the kind of small shadow puppets you may have been mentally picturing. If you are aware of Javanese Wayang Kulit from Indonesia, then sort of like that.

They have a main pole to hold up the body of the puppet. And a smaller one usually connected at the hand to articulate the arm.  

Given that these performances last all evening. The puppets are often pinned directly to the screen for long scenes. Or the main support is placed in a wooden log that sits between the lamps and screen. 

Being such large the shadow puppets are often covered in exquisite detail. Cut out in the negative, details are created by removing material to allow the light to shine though. Stylistically this looks like doted or beaded holes to denote clothing or belts.

The lead puppeteer is known as a pulavar. They are above all scholars. The role requires a lifetime of study of the Adhyatma Ramayanam. The Vedas, the Puranas, Ayurveda, and classical music. 

The performance of the Ramayana in this folk tradition unusual. As not only do they tell the epic poem from memory. They also use dialogue between characters or Gods they explain and expound the broader theoretical issues of text.

Remember that all this is taking place behind a screen with nobody except the temple Gods on the other side.

At the time of the books publication in 1994, Blackburn closed with worries about future. The art form under threat due to younger generations unwilling to take up a role that requires a lifetime of study for very little pay. 

But in the nearly 30 years since his field work, there are signs of hope. Puppeteers have begun to move their work beyond the confines of the temple’s drama house. Into venues such as colleges, theatres and arts festivals. They have also begun introducing more contemporary themes and social commentary.

This book is absolutely fantastic if you know the story of the Ramayana. Blackburn transcribes scenes at length, and provides commentary on the changes the puppeteers make to the source material.

The script above is the original script I wrote for the episode. It may differ from what ended up in the audio due to time constraints.

The post The Puppets in the Drama House | 2111 appeared first on thejaymo.net.

November 20, 2020

|

Permanently Moved 🔊 | Puppets 🎎

S03E46

Puppets in the 18th century royal court of Myanmar

Full show notes: https://thejaymo.net/2020/11/20/301-2046-conduits-to-a-king/

Webshow: http://comeinternetwith.me
Website: https://thejaymo.net/
Support: https://thejaymo.net/support/

Permanently moved is a personal podcast 301 seconds in length, written and recorded by @thejaymo

Conduits To A King

On last week’s episode of Come Internet With Me I was joined by the Host of obscure theory podcast Hermitix. James, or rather Meta Nomad and I searched ventriloquist dummies. During our hour of interneting. We tried (unsuccessfully) to get to the bottom of the differences between Marionettes, Puppets, and Ventriloquists dummies. In one article we found there was a single paragraph that mentioned the following: 

In 15th century Myanmar (Burma), marionettes troupes were employed by the king to highlight and correct the misbehaviors of family members, and save them embarrassment. Ordinary citizens also used the dolls as vehicles to respectfully express their dissatisfaction with the king and his Court.

Differences between Marionettes, Puppets, and Ventriloquists Figures (Dummies)

Now I can’t read something like that and not investigate. So I’ve spent the last few days reading about Burmiese marionette theater. Or Yoke thé – which translates as Miniatures.

The Burmese marionette tradition traces its earliest performances back to the 1400s. The blog we found was a little free with its details. It in fact the the 1700s. Under the reign of Singu Min 1756-1782 – who by the way was deposed by his cousin and executed by his uncle at the age of 25. 

Two years before in 1780, Min was introduced to Marionette theatre by his Minister of Royal Entertainment, U Thaw. From then on it became an important part of royal court life during the Konbaung dynasty. Which only ended with the invasion and colonisation by the British in 1885. As an aside, I also read about the 23 ton Singu Min Bell or Maha Gandha, which means “Great Sound” commissioned by the same short lived king. 

The British stole it from the Shwedagon temple during the first Anglo-Burmese War. However, the ship that was carrying the bell to Calcutta sank in Yangon River. After several unsuccessful attempts to salvage the bell, British gave up. 

Then, a group of Burmese people successfully raised the bell with hundreds of bamboo poles tied underneath the bell. The air trapped in the poles helped to float the bell to the surface at high tide.

Anyhoo back to the Marionetes. I studied Indonesian shadow puppetry way back at university. Similarly to the story cycles of Wayang Kulit Burmese Marionette theatre has a fixed number of characters or figures in the case of U Thaw’s theatre: 27. 

There are four categories of drama that this collection of characters perform: Historical dramas, Religious stories and fables, modern drama and birth-stories of the Buddha.

The marionettes are about 50 centimetres high with 18 or 19 wires and require great deal of dexterity from the puppeteer.

The performances are accompanied by live music.

As an indication of the importance attached to puppetry by the royal court. The Konbaung dynasty created the “Ministry of the Royal Stage”

A full company of puppeteers is more than 10 people. 

With three types of performers in the troupe: 

1. Those who only sing 
2. Those who only manipulate the marionettes 
3. Those who sing as well as manipulate

The artists held fixed shares as their salary, depending on their role. But they weren’t paid in cash money, instead they were paid in precious gifts and objects.

The royal court had 4 stages each with its own 10 plus troupe of performers.

The “Great Royal Stage” with a troupe personally selected by the King. The ‘Lesser Royal Stage”, with its puppeteers selected by the by the queen or crown prince. The “Crown Princess’s Stage”, and finally the “Royal Court Stage” which played for the courtiers. 

Only the “Great Royal Stage” was allowed to be accompanied by two orchestras, placed to the left and right side of the stage. Each of the other stages only had one.

The marionettes were so popular that formal folks dance theatre borrowed dances from the puppets stage. Even today the talent of a dancer is judged by their ability to imitate the movements of a marionette.

Performances of the puppets served as political conduits between the ruler and their subjects. Puppet troupes traveled from town to town and brought news of the capital and other places. They were also used as a way to express opinions to the king.

Sometimes they would use a play to make a subject’s plight known to the ruler. Once  a soldier died, and his wife was forced by the commander of his regiment to serve in his place. and accompany the troupe wherever it had to go. The name of the unfortunate widow was made known to the king by means of a pun. 

Then the king inquired about the matter and ordered that the woman be sent home immediately. 

All puppeteers think of their puppets as live entities. Without this belief it would be difficult to make them truly ‘alive’ on stage. Before they are used, a ceremony offering food to the patron Goddess of performing Arts must be held. With this ritual the puppets are ‘brought to life’. When the strings are unraveled, the puppet must immediately be made to move as if she is breathing.

Now as you can imagine I find all this fascinating. I do wish my friend Eriol was still alive. To discuss all this and the importance of puppet theatre spreading the gospel. “Marionette” means “Mary doll after all.

I also mentioned puppet theatre recently in Episode 20-35, They are it seems, fully beginning to capture my imagination. So more on puppets likely soon. 

If you regularly enjoy my writing or podcasts or please consider supporting my work at thejaymo.net/support

The above is the original script I wrote for the episode. It may differ from what ended up in audio due to time constraints.

The post Conduits To A King | 2046 appeared first on thejaymo.net.

September 4, 2020

|

Narratives 📖 | Permanently Moved 🔊 | Puppets 🎎

S03E35

Performance in its execution becomes something more than the individuals involved. Siblings, Community, Bread and Puppets, SHEDx, Italian Dinner Theatre and Solarpunk.

You can now support the show at https://thejaymo.net/support/

Links:
Siblings: https://shop.igetrvng.com/products/rvngnl42
Bread & Puppet: https://breadandpuppet.org/
SHEDx: https://www.thecommunitybrain.org/shedx-home
Teatro del Sale https://www.teatrodelsale.com/en/welcome-2/

Permanently moved is a personal podcast 301 seconds in length, written and recorded in one hour by @thejaymo

Website: https://thejaymo.net/
Podcast: http://permanentlymoved.online
Zine: http://startselectreset.com
Support: https://thejaymo.net/support/

Theatre, Applied

I hope he won’t mind me mentioning. But I had a wonderful call with the artist, composer, and choreographer Colin Self this week. We caught up and chatted about his creative life and journey. Our chat was affirming. Full of great insight and good medicine.

If you haven’t heard Self’s 2018 album Siblings – You definitely should. 

It’s an album about critical joy. Making kin, ways of knowing and coming together in this time of ecological crisis. Inspired by the work of Donna Haraway. The album is the final segment in a six-part opera cycle entitled Elation. It’s a remarkable work. I privileged to see the European premiere at Unsound. The album is out on RVNG.

The essence of our conversation was about coming together. To make and create things in community. How performance in its execution becomes something more than the individuals involved. This is a topic I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently with regard to #pretgate here in the UK. It illustrates a perceived near zero public sphere. There is no space not oriented toward buying stuff or making profit for someone else.

Colin mentioned the Bread and Puppet Theatre and as a result I’ve been on an internet binge. A bit of their history from the website:

The Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side. Besides rod-puppet and hand puppet shows for children, the concerns of the first productions were rents, rats, police, and other problems of the neighborhood. More complex theater pieces followed, in which sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners. The puppets grew bigger and bigger. (..) Many performances were done in the street. During the Vietnam War, Bread and puppet staged block-long processions and pageants involving hundreds of people.

In 1974 Bread and Puppet moved to a farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The 140-year old hay barn was transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two day outdoor festival of puppetry shows, was presented annually through 1998.

The company makes its income from touring new and old productions  both on the American continent and abroad, and from sales of Bread and Puppet Press’ posters and publications. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces presented by members of the company, to extensive outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers.

Bread and Puppet is one of the oldest, nonprofit, self-supporting theatrical companies in the country.

I live in Surbiton and have a v.different, but similar organisation right around the corner.

The Community Brain. They exist to develop community cohesion using the widest range of the arts, education and local history in order to give people and place renewed importance and pride.

They are about utilising people’s natural talents and energies to develop stronger communities and relationships. Strengthening the natural networking and support that can happen in healthy societies creating more resilient communities.

Their concerns (in my mind) are:

• Community
• Public Play
• Myths and Legends
• History & Heritage
• The Future

It is real place making, not as gloss for gentrification.

The Community Brain have a project called SHEDx based at an allotment plot in Tolworth called ‘Farm of Futures’. A project engaging the local community of Tolworth, and surrounding areas. Encouraging people to take ownership of their unused and green spaces. The project has re-greened Tolworth broadway. Kickstarted the first Tolworth Christmas market in many years. And they are helping locals define, imagine, improve and enact the capital F future for their town.

SHEDx is an exact replica of the existing crooked shed that lives at the Tolworth site. A flat-pack travelling exhibition space which promotes allotment culture around the UK. It has squatted outside the Victoria and Albert Museum. And some what improbably won a silver medal at Hampton Court Flower Show.

Community brain also made use of puppets. Made to represent new myths and legends created by the local community at parades and events. You might have seen me tweeting about Lefi Ganderson and the State of Seething.

I’ve also recently discovered the Teatro del Sale in Florence Italy.

The result of a vision by Maria Cassi, its artistic director, and her husband Chef Fabio Picchi. Who the godfather of the Italian local food movement. His life’s work has been championing the Tuscan farm to table movement. He’s a larger than life almost Solarpunk character.

Guests stand in line and go up to a window to collect their food. Its first come first serve so with each dish served there is a raucous rush to queue up.

Anyways.

Teatro del Sale opened its doors in 2003 as a dinner theatre venue and members association. Anyone can eat there but they must sign up for a membership first.

From the videos I’ve seen, Fabio shouts and harrangs the patrons in good faith and everyone is smiling. After the meal patrons have to help clear the tables and reset the chairs to face the stage. After each dinner there is a performance from professional musicians, dancers and actors. It could be anything depending on the night.

What a fantastic idea.

I’ve been involved with some citizen sci-fi as part of my association with Solarpunk and I’ve always talked about food first.

Visionary Mode for me right now is a combination of puppets, theatre, community, music, communal food, drama, farming and the future. Not being discussed. But like SHEDx enacted in every town, place and local borough of every city.

Solarpunk LARPing is just doing the future – today.

The script above is the original script I wrote for the episode. It may differ from what ended up in audio due to time constraints.

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