by Tara Nicole Haas
A few weeks ago, our cast and crew were able to have the amazing opportunity to work with the renowned Bristol Old Vic Theatre company from England. The Bristol Old Vic recently mounted a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in association with Handspring Puppet Company. The two companies collaborated to create a phenomenal production that strongly utilized puppets. View these clips for a glimpse into their production and puppetry:
We were lucky enough to have The Bristol Old Vic visit BYU, and they held workshops where they specifically worked with The Selfish Giant cast and puppeteers. Of course everyone was very receptive, and jumped at the opportunity to learn from these professionals. The company members worked with us for many hours, showing our puppeteers how to more easily manipulate their puppets, while making them become more life-like and intriguing. We learned many ways we could improve our puppets and perfect what we already had. Our cast and crew are working hard to master their puppet skills in all areas (building, manipulating, realism, etc. …) to create a truly magical show that everyone will enjoy. We owe a lot to the Bristol Old Vic, as they were a great inspiration and help to our show. We are very excited about the progress we’ve made and our puppets are becoming more delightful every day. Below are pictures from the workshops with members of our cast working with the professional Bristol Old Vic Company:
