Category Archives: Toy Theatre

Final Filming of Hansel & Gretel Finished at Last!

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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Due to various other commitments the filming of our Toy Theatre show Hansel & Gretel has been dragging on over quite an extended period of time.

Indeed, this time last year we would have been creating it ready for performance at the Vischmarkt Papierentheater Festival in the Harderwijk, The Netherlands.

There were various technical issues that we encountered in the process of doing the filming that made it quite a lengthy process.

Any of you toy theatre practitioners out there who use LED strip lighting for their shows like we do will know that it can cause the recorded images to flicker and strobe.

The flickering rate of the lights is what allows you to dim and raise the light level.  A low light level is created by a slower flickering rate, which is undetectable to the naked eye and all looks great during a live performance.  In addition, levels of light which are fine for a live audience could often “white out” the colour and detail on figures and scenery, so everything had to be adjusted to appear correct for the filmed version.

Getting the show filmed at all was a real treat for my co-performer and husband Tim and myself, because we had never seen the show from the audience’s point of view before.  It was quite hard from a directing and performing point of view to know what to do and where to position the puppets (I call them toy theatre puppets, other people don’t but that’s their business) on the stage.

When I designed the show I worked up a storyboard, like a cartoon strip, for every scene. This included descriptions of the action, vaguely what characters would say and what sound and lighting effects and music should be where.  Then from that I made a separate breakdown of all of the puppets and scenery that would need making and vaguely what they would look like.  After that Tim wrote the script and I did a rough mock up of all of the puppets and scenery and performed the play in a smaller Toy Theatre.  Then going on to make up the best quality full size scenery and puppets.

So from the beginning, I had a visual idea of how I wanted it to look, but the filming was my first real opportunity to see what it was really like.  I’m glad to say that I am pretty happy with it and the dynamic, exciting script and (if I say so myself) the excellent voice performances project real power and emotion into the real issues that affect Hansel & Gretel, their parents and ourselves today.

What Parents at the moment aren’t worried about how they are going to put bread on the table to support their family?  Who isn’t affected by the gap between the super rich greedy people, (like the witch) and the poor, (Hansel & Gretel’s family)?

But, don’t get the idea that the show is all serious and doom and gloom.  It has funny bits, scary bits and of course, (the bit that everyone loves) the nasty greedy witch gets pushed in the oven and the brave, good children triumph at the end.

To those that say that a story like this is unrealistic wish fulfilment and in the real world bad people go unpunished and prosper in their lives, I say it is a story to aspire to and teaches real values.  Little people, like Hansel & Gretel can make a difference if they try hard and support each other in adversity.  Good people who do nothing allow evil to triumph.

But that’s enough moralising; I was telling you about the filming!

In the end we had to use alternative lighting to what we use in the live show, to eliminate the scenes with the worst strobing.  We used the LED lighting rig where possible and as a result there is a tiny bit of flickering on some of the scenes, but we think it is not so bad as to be a problem.

I’m afraid to say the video will not be ready for a little while yet, as there is still a lot of editing to do and we have lots of other commitments to deal with.  We are working on the automaton horse for the “My Last Carnival” celebration to accompany the visit of “My Last Car” to High Bentham.  We will be working on that tomorrow and I will have more news of how it is going, later in the week.  Tim is coming to dread the phrase, “I’ve had another idea…”.

Also, I have been booked to do not one, but two of my Shadow Puppet Suitcase Shows, (“Jabberwocky!” and “Edward Lear’s Nonsense”) at Beverley Puppet Festival on Sunday the 15th of July.  Please look at the “Where to See Me” page for up to date details of all forthcoming performances and workshops.

Trains, “Honey” and “Beecart”s

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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As you know from my last post, I had an audition with Pif-Paf theatre for their shows “Honey” and the accompanying street show “Bee Cart” on Monday.  The previous day had lots of alarming news stories about snow causing country wide travel disruption and to cap it all, my van was also out of action.

It is debatable whether I would have wanted to drive all the way to Sheffield and back, and do an energetic workshop style audition too, so I might well have opted for the train anyway.  But, as I didn’t know I’d be needing to travel by train well in advance, I was not able to take advantage of any discounts for advance booking.  I was also too late to order online and get tickets by post and there is no ticket machine at Bentham station.  All this meant that the fare was twice as much as that displayed on the National Rail Enquiries site online when I bought it on the train on the day.

It was a funny old route.  Bentham leaving at 6.21am, (I feared the prospect of getting up in time for this after my 4.15am alarm on the previous Thursday not at all!) to Lancaster, then Lancaster to Manchester and Manchester to Sheffield.  The total journey time being a little over 3 hours altogether in order to be there in time to catch a bus to the “Blue Shed” for arrival at 11am or earlier.

I happened to bump into Jeremy Shine of Manchester International Arts at Manchester Oxford Road train station, (what are the odds?).  The train was late at Lancaster and Manchester and I was worried whether I’d be there on time so sent a text message ahead just in case.  Luckily the instructions and map sent by Pete Gunson proved to be extremely accurate and useful.  The Sheffield Interchange was not far from the train station and I didn’t have to wait long for the correct bus.

There had been no further snow in Bentham the previous day but all day Sunday had been submerged in an uncanny thick fog.  It was still there in the morning when I left but we emerged from it at some point in the journey revealing instead the remains of what looked to be considerably thicker snow than I’d left behind.  Although I hadn’t brought my proper water-proof hiking boots, the boots I was wearing dealt with the snow and slush that was left well enough.

I arrived with a few minutes spare in the end.  I then discovered that the artistic director of Tell-Tale Hearts, Natasha Holmes (whose blog is in my blog roll), was running the workshop activities so that Pete and Eleanor could concentrate on scrutinising everyone.  This was a pleasant surprise as, though I hadn’t met Natasha before, I had met their administrator Jane on a Puppet Centre Trust course.

I often feel that I don’t come across at my best in audition and interview situations, as it is hard; feeling that you’re being evaluated.  For some reason performing in front of a normal audience is not a problem, but in any case; Natasha did an excellent job of putting everyone at their ease and I think I did very well.  I think I did not get selected because my singing range was too high compared to the music as arranged and recorded already.  I’d like to think that I made a good impression and they know some of what I can do now if anything else comes up, though we did not do any puppetry in the workshop in the end – it was mainly concentrating on the physical performance side.

So I had a nice time with a lot of other friendly performers, if I got nothing else out of it.  If train fares were cheaper I’d be even happier!  The show itself has strong educational and environmental credentials and looks like it should be a lot of fun too.  So good luck to whoever does get the parts and it should be worth going to see, if they’re in your area.  You can see more about the show here.

But this wasn’t the end of the day for me, having got away early I went to the bus stop and remembered I’d left my bag behind in time to watch a bus arrive at the stop, (it wasn’t a big deal as they were every 10 minutes anyway).  I got my bag, caught another bus and discovered that there was an earlier train I could catch.  There was another earlier train from Manchester to Lancaster, though this proved to be a bit of a squash as for some reason half the train didn’t arrive and still had the same number of people wanting to travel.  I was one of the lucky ones who had a seat throughout.

When I arrived in Lancaster at around 5pm, however, my worst fears were confirmed.  There would be no trains to Bentham till the 7.24pm one I would have been catching had I stayed till the end of the full audition day.  I might have been able to catch a bus sooner, but I’d paid an arm a leg for the train ticket, so I was darn well going to catch the train and not shell out for more transport.  I did shell out for my evening meal and two cups of coffee to pass the time, but that was more like a treat than a bus ticket would be.

For those who are interested, my van is now in the care of my local garage who is going to fix it and make it all better.  The bang I heard was the cam belt breaking, apparently, and unfortunately the valves also got bent subsequent to that.  But fixing it will be considerably cheaper than purchasing another van, so I should have it for a good few years yet all being well.

I guess the next big outing i have coming up will be the “Culture & Tourism: Realising the Value” on March 5th at Fountains Abbey.  It will be interesting to see if my van is well by then or not.  In the meanwhile I’m touting for work in schools at the end of March, so if you’re a school and would like a puppet or toy theatre work shop, let me know and I’ll send you some information.  All the best till next week!