Te Papa - National Museum of New Zealand will have an exhibition of my marionettes

Te Papa  is Maori and means our place and it is the National Museum of New Zealand here in Wellington. For those readers that have never been to Aotearoa / New Zealand, Wellington is at the bottom of the North Island and when you walk along the foreshore you can not miss it. Five of my Marionettes will be there for a year in two displays. One will show one of my earliest figures, see photo at the top and a very recent one. The larger case will have three characters from my play Mustava and the Kauri Giant. You will find all the images in other blog entries but I thought I put two of the characters here to give you a little preview.    

news update for 2015

Even when you try to build a house news happens. A group of us here in Wellington are working on the second puppetry festival in New Zealand. It will be on in October this year.

out oft the suitcase puppet festival and Leda Farrow created a very nice website for it. Not live as I write but very soooon. Will keep you updated.

Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand will have an exhibition of my marionettes in June. Seriously very happy, proud and exited about it. The promotional photos are beautiful too. More about it and in the next few blog entries.

Still building my house and it takes so much longer than thought so the entries will be sparse and not very regular.

Thanks for your ongoing interest.

Norbert :-)

Marionette Gallery 22 - The ..??.. whatever he wants to be

Here is another character with a multitude of roles and sidekick appearances over the last .. forgot how many years. He was a priest and a museums curator and much more. Like a number of the characters I introduced, he is a marionette without legs. The shoulder piece of wood carries the costume, the hands are attached to the sleeves  and the head with a red cap on top. The index finger of the right hand shows slightly upward and gives caution. Of course like all of my Marionettes it is carved from linden wood.
Its a fun figure to bring out when he explained paintings and does not remember anything. These marionettes might be easy to assemble but harder to perform with. Keeping them on the same level so they do not float or drag their costume behind them takes skill. The Marionettes with legs always give you a clear reference when you perform.

Marionette Gallery 21 - The spy satelite

Part of Mustava and the Moon, it was inspired by the sputnik the russians send into space in 1957. That was a big thing back then when it released the little beeps from out of space. It was the cold war and well check it out on line. It certainly triggered the space race.

The marionette is created from laminated rings of plywood that I sanded once glued, to achieve alight and durable figure. The same technique I used for the Alien Alpha. You can see the mouth and by tilting the control the mouth opens and shuts. It had a broad american accent, well I can not do russian accents, sorry.

The whole show gave a lot of possibilities of follow up activities in schools. The set showed star constellations and had numerous reverences to spaceexploration. It does look like a simple marionette but as allways you have to come up with the idea and the first try does not work out many a times.

touring diary 9 last for the year

Here we go! After on and off touring during the year and the start in Bluff so long ago, the theater has arrived in Kaitaia, the end of this years 30 years anniversary tour. Feels great and the audiences are as responsiv as everwhere.

Ahipara school is ready to watch the show.

After the show the classes can walk through the back of the stage.

They have a close up look at the marionettes and can ask me questions.

Packing up and the show will travel south. One day in Whangarei and two days in greater Auckland and the tour is over. Thank you to all my audiences it was a great year and hope to see you again. Underneath the view from Ahipara towards Cape Reinga.

touring diary 8

Halfway up to Auckland having to get another tank full of Petrol. Great that I bought these magnetic stickers. Ordered six.....why? Surprise but one got stolen already. They are a great conversation starter too. People took photos of them and some are surprised that there is someone doing marionette shows in New Zealand.

Auckland, the land of busy motorways, unreal houseprices, a casino, beautiful beaches, extinged vulcanos and so much more. Here is a photo from Mt Eden. The central city at the back and all is half surrounded by water, just beautiful!!!!!

Shows are going very well and tomorrow am on my way to Kaitai, the last leg of my tour around New Zealand. It all started in the beginning of the year in Bluff, way way way down south. Having been to all provinces over the year was just great. Witnessing the changes due to the unreal expansion of dairying, the devastation of the Christchurch earthquakes, the decline of some small towns and the rocketing houseprices and migration to Auckland. My country changes in the fast lane. Hope we all can keep up with it. Cheers 

Let there be light - about my stagelights

Not that long ago in historic terms, electricity did not rate a mention. Nobody had a switch on the wall and if they had, nothing happened. The shows were done by candlelight or the old oillamps. Gas came later well and electricity is a recent arrival. Part of the stories about puppets coming alive, is in my opinion due to these live flames that flicker and move. Todays flicker is so short we do not notice it with the human eye. So what do I use to light up my stage? The shows I do tend to be in a darkened environment with my zoomspots ajusted on the stage.
For the last 25 plus years I used the selecon zoomspot 650. The company in those days was New Zealand owned and operated and is now part of Philips. They did and do a great service and are sturdy and reliable. Great choice all those years ago. Still going after all those years is without question a sign of great quality. And surving 25 plus years with a touring company is simply outstanding!

Here they are in the back of my Nissan Cefiro Stationwagon. They have seen the world and apart from the ocassional change of the light bulb and a broken cable, they are as good as they were on the first day. Yes scratches and marks are part of aging.

Here is an image of my standard setup during one of my shows on the Auckland/ Northland tour. The lights are on and the show starts. The beam is ajusted to a rectangle to fit the stage and not light up the surrroundings. Sometimes my marionettes should do a show by candlelight in a drafty tent. Just to hark back to the beginnings of our profession.

HOLD PRESS!!!! THESE ARE BRAND NEW FROM SELECON

 BASICALLY A REPLACEMENT AND THEY ARE SO MUCH MORE ADVANCED.

Just great light power and they use less energy. So happy with them! If they last as long as the first lot Iight actually be retired. :) Cheers and keep the lights on!