Jim Henson and Sweetums
“Chad stuffed me in a box coming here today,” sighs Waboose, a moving-mouth puppet with some serious grievances. “And he gave his girlfriend the front seat of the van.”
The rugs on the floor in front of the stage are prime real estate at the Toronto Puppetry Collective’s Sunday performance. A dozen or so kids have claimed them, leaning forward intently. Chad Solomon’s puppet show, Nanabozhoo & the Animals, is holding them in thrall. Solomon, a member of the Henvey Inlet First Nation, uses the performances to introduce audiences to his Rabbit and Bear Paws graphic novel series.
The Toronto Puppetry Collective is the brainchild of Kelly Kirkham, Andreas Krebs and Joanne Bigham. The trio turned a $500 grant from the Ontario Puppetry Association into the Puppet Allsorts Performance Series. Since their December 2012 debut, they have brought in quality guest puppeteers from across Ontario and have sold out of nearly all their shows. “We did a lot with a little,” smiles Bigham.
Bigham’s shop, Open Door Designs, sells puppets — from Diabolos to marionettes — and puppet theatres. She demonstrates one of their more popular models, which is totally portable and sets up within seconds. “This is sort of a classical design, for more traditional smaller hand puppets,” she says of the Punch & Judy-styled steel-framed unit with striped upholstery.
Bigham attributes the spike in puppet popularity to a peculiar kind of nostalgia that has accompanied the digital era. “It’s in the air. The last time puppetry was really popular was in the 1930’s. If you think about it, it’s when times are tough. Also may have to do with the parents wanting to go back to a simpler time — to live performances. There’s a whole generation that missed live puppetry because of TV, game boys, that kind of thing.”
The set up for the main event is quick: the ‘cast’ and stage are stored in plastic Rubbermaid boxes in the back of a van. A few dozen chairs, some rugs, and three puppets – albeit custom-made $6000 puppets – are all that’s needed for a pretty stellar afternoon.
The performance is more captivating than a slick CGI feature-film. “At all of our shows, I’ve been stunned that really young children are able to sustain,” says Bigham. “Even very obscure things, like our shadow puppets — an 18 month-old kid was riveted.” A big component is the element of interactivity. Solomon quickly integrated the kids into the performance, assigning pint-sized volunteers to various animal hand puppets for the show. “Let them become what they’re watching, then they have a better understanding,” he explains. At one point he pulls a big blue bolt of fabric across the heads of the entire audience (symbolizing the earth being flooded with water). It gets their attention.
Solomon’s next show will be a “Choose Your Own Adventure” play where the audience determines the course of the action. Puppet-making master Matt Ficner is developing a Wendigo-type figure (which sort of resembles Jim Henson’s ‘Sweetums’). The puppet is essentially an immersive costume. The mouth will open up and can be filled with food, whereby the stomach will animatronically expand. Wendigo addresses both personal and corporate greed, addictive behaviors and suffering. And it brings up issues of healthy living in a way that’s appealing to kids.
“You’ll get a lot of hugs, I’m afraid,” warns Bigham.
Puppetry is one of the most easily accessible and widely used art forms, stretching back thousands of years. Bigham has made puppets for Kenny and Spenny, constructing moving-mouth models using armatures and ‘foam & fur’ construction. “I just worked from photos online. Of course they needed them yesterday. TV is terrible for that”. Kirkham specializes in making papier mache puppets and performing. She’s worked extensively with a company called Unraku. Krebs’ specialty is finger puppets, often with a political bent. He has created a puppet series lampooning Stephen Harper and his cabinet. “I started because I was always making things with my hands. I was a puppeteer in an academic’s body.” Is one of the hazards of the job was holding your arms up? “I don’t think its that hard, surprisingly” Krebs states confidently. Then adds: “but I do mostly video. I’ve actually never tried to do that.”
TPC’s upcoming shows include My Big Fat German Puppet Show and Carlos and his Five Reasons. They’re also putting on a puppet slam, Allsorts Slam, which they describe as like a poetry slam, but less pretentious. Get tickets here.
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Tiffy Thompson is a writer and illustrator for the Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter at @tiffyjthompson.
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