Marionette gallery 23 - Little boy in sailor outfit

The little boy in a sailor outfit was based on a old photo of my father. He played a role in Fading Memories and Titanic. He is smaller than my average figure of 600 mm and operates very easily. Thought of a little prince version for him. Who says you have to stick with the look of the original illustration. The message in The little Prince is beautiful and can be transformed. Didn't he age with the time of his travel? That for a start. So here he is living with all the other characters I created. Waiting for another part in another performance I suppose.

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