Politics, Puppetry and BROTH M........ and what else?

Brotha M
Some might remember the character of Broth M. I did introduce him in one of my earlier blog entries. He and his brother Mustava (now in the Te Papa collection) have performed and delighted audiences through New Zealand and the world.

Recently I received an email from the Fringe Bar in Wellington. They wanted me to perform there. Part of a monthly Menagerie where various performers present a 10 minute act to an adult audience.

Invite to Puppetry in The Menagerie 30th of September
Hi Norbert,

That should be no problem I thought, lets do a sort of a variety act Broth M and friends. Take the little guy, with 30cm one of my small figures, add a few other characters and they rabble rouse a bit and have fun. Sing a song and do the entertainment thing, so I thought. The idea was well received by the organiser at first until a few days ago - when this email arrived.

​Evening Norbert,

I've had it pointed out to me by the Menagerie's owner that an white man puppeteering a brown character just a few weeks after the election might be read as more political than intended. Do you have other characters that you could perform for the Menagerie? Alternately, do you have any video footage of Brotha M in action I could refer to?

Regards,

Eli


Do we give this more importances than we should? Is this even worth a blog entry? Is this a sign of the times? Is puppetry that powerful? Are we over interpreting? Is this to PC? Is all of this taken to seriously? Lots of questions and suddenly what was thought of light entertainment is earnest, important, serious and political.

Puppet exhibition in OREWA

Yes again the biannual puppet exhibition happened in Qrewa, the Hibiscus coast. A delightful gallery, communal space just north of Auckland. With a few staff and lots of volunteers they do an excellent job for the wider community. The whole area is growing due to the housing demand and Auckland house prices. The weather was great and I spend a few days up there giving talks on the history of puppetry, workshops and shows. It was very successful due to their great organisation.
The new extension they build a year ago was a great space for the shows and the workshops. With creative results they all achieved in one and a half hour. Looking forward to the next event in two years.
The marionette in a box that was created by the Waikato Museum for my exhibition was part of it as well. A really great interactive unit that  hopefully will participate in many more exhibitions. 

Smallest Punch and Judy ever

Greytown is a small picturesque town in the Wairarapa. About one hour drive from the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. It is part of a larger farming community and you have the nice coffee shops and bakeries and other little luxuries. About 20 meter of the main road, in a little side street is the very quaint little shop of Imperial Productions. It is advertised on the main road and I knew it produces toy soldiers which does not interests me particularly. Though a few days ago I made the point to have a look. I was pretty much blown away and not by the wind. This tiny shop has an amazing range of figures. All done by David and his daughter Lisa. For a two person team it is even more extraordinary what they do. As you expect, what caught my eye was a beautiful miniature Punch and Judy box with two children as the audience. It is a certain must have for me. Am completely taken in by it and am certain this is the smallest Punch and Judy set ever.

Images will follow so far you can only see it on their website, the link below. Its TA55 :)

Enjoy this little delight

http://imperialproductions.co.nz/collection/townaround/ip_series_town_and_around.html

Marionette Gallery 31 - The Sultan

This is the Sultan for Alladin and his wonderful lamp. Slightly chubby he got stuck on his throne a number of times. Good natured and at the end just a side character in the whole play. I wanted him to have rather chubby hand too. So there was no room to fit 5 fingers. Did not matter as the audience does not count fingers but gets taken away by the story and the action of the marionettes.

Marionette Gallery 30 - The Magician Kazur

What does a magician look like? Remember that I asked myself that question. My result was that he exists in two world. Our human one and the world beyond of what we can see and realise. The carved result was a doubled faced member of the crew. The stage entry showed the human one and when he slowly turned his other side was revealed. Pretty effective trick for my production of Alladin and his wonderful lamp.
The hand on each side was corresponding. This marionette is slightly taller than my average of 600mm. This gave him an even more menacing expression. The original show was named Alladin and his magic lamp. Christian families did not let there children go as it had to do with magic. Changing it to wonderful did not raise any objections and everybody was happy.

Marionette Gallery 29 - Alladin

Yes there he is Alladin. The show was created in the early 1990s. With magic lamp and flying carpet. The carpet was super effective and impressive. When he saved the sultans daughter and both criss crossed the stage, left a lasting impression on the audience. The comic sidekick was his friend Rama the camel. Not the brightest one but good natured. The photo shows him in his outfit once he came into the money. A fast change of turban and a bright red overthrow.

 Yes have to fix his nose string that broke recently:)  Cheers

What an honour, one of the best puppet blog on the net!

Yes I could not quite believe it and thought it is some sort of spam. Anuj Agarwal send me an email and congratulated me. http://blog,feedspot.com/puppet blogs/  is the contact. A list of the Top 75 Puppet Blogs on the internet. Here in little old New Zealand I did not know they all existed. Certainly a great contact to dive into. Yes as you ask, I am number 68.

Check it out!

Cheers and Thanks to all readers :) :)

End of two exhibitions and packing up

At the end of January Te Papa had a Maori ceremony to close the beautiful exhibition of my marionettes and other on the floor to make room for a complete remake of the area. A few days later the really successful Waikato exhibition closed. Te Papa is easy as I just drive down the road. For the Waikato exhibition it was a 7 hour drive. They put all the marionettes in an extra gallery so it was easy to bag them and put them in my station wagon. A nice drive and great weekend. North of Auckland at the Orewa estuary arts centre will be the next exhibition in July this year. It is their second one on puppets and it will have lots of activities as well.

 Very nice of the Museum to give me the display cabinet with a bare marionette so visitors can get an idea how they work. That was pretty successful and hope that Orewa will see it in July.