Danie Marais besoek die Handspring Puppet Company se droomfabriek

“Toe ons Handspring gestig het, was die hoop dat goeie dinge uit die palm van die hand sou ontspring.”

Só sê Adrian Kohler, medestigter van die Handspring Puppet Company, in ‘n dokumentêr oor hul wêreldberoemde perdpoppe in die teaterstuk War Horse.

Goeie dinge het beslis uit Kohler en sy vennoot en lewensmaat, Basil Jones, se palms ontspring, want War Horse was nie hul enigste sukses nie. Daar was die renoster van die produksie Woyzeck on the Highveld, die hiëna van Faustus in Africa, en mees onlangs die ou mans van Or You Could Kiss Me.

‘n Retrospektiewe uitstalling van hul werk was vanjaar by die Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees te sien. Die boek Handspring Puppet Company bied nog meer informasie oor hul werk. Danie Marais het hul “droomfabriek” in Muizenberg besoek om die verhaal van hierdie eiesoortige teatergeselskap te hoor:

Dit gaan oor verlange. Verlange het Geppetto genoop om Pinocchio te maak, en verlange het asem in die houtkabouter geblaas nog lank voordat hy mens geword het.

Poppe en marionette strewe inherent daarna om die lewe uit te beeld en te beliggaam, skryf die medestigter en -direkteur van die Handspring Puppet Company, Basil Jones, in sy essay “Puppetry and Author­ship”.

• Volledige artikel: Die Burger

Boekbesonderhede

• Handspring Puppet Company (softcover) saamgestel deur Jane Taylor
  Boek se tuisblad
  EAN: 9780981432830

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Foto te danke aan Journal of Modern Craft

Handspring Puppet Company’s War Horse to Debut at New York’s Lincoln Center

The stage production, War Horse, which was a hit on London’s West-End, is now set to grace the stage, Handspring Puppet Company puppets and all, at the Lincoln Center Theatre in New York.

Lifesized puppets of horses, strong enough for men to ride, are used to depict the story of a boy who searches for his horse that was sold to the cavalry during World War 1.

Tickets are on sale and previews of the play begin 15 March 2011.

WAR HORSE is a magnificent drama, filled with stirring music and beautiful songs. But it is more than just a compelling tale. This is a show of indescribable grandeur and sheer inventiveness — perhaps the most magical production ever staged for the Beaumont. There are breathing, galloping, charging horses on the stage – their flanks, hides and sinews built of steel, leather and aircraft cables. They are life-size puppets strong enough for men to ride. And that’s just one element of this imaginative epic:

“Now and then the theatre throws up a piece of work so exhilarating that it makes you rejoice to be alive. WAR HORSE is just such an occasion… A sweeping drama of extraordinary power. Its sheer skill and invention are simply awe-inspiring.”
–The Times of London

• Read the complete article on the Lincoln Center Theatre website

Book details

• Handspring Puppet Company edited by Jane Taylor
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9780981432854