Shadow puppetry experimentation

Shadow Puppetry first thoughts and designs...

We have chosen to do shadow puppetry for two of the stories - Cuthbert (gangrene story) and the shell hole story

This was due, not only to the fact that they are personal stories from people in our company, but because the stories are very different and individual. They also contain a larger narrative than the others which means we need to explore their story in a different way to how we have been with the others. 

The first story - I noticed this up and down the hill kind of theme. It made me think of how soldiers are just sent up to the front line, go back down home when injured and go back up after they are better. This circular motion; going round and round, really influenced how to do this shadow puppetry moment. 

 The second story about brothers in a shell hole, this style from the Portuguese 'Sombras Da Asia' book really influenced our designs of how the puppet would move. With sticks attached to the hands or legs to allow them to move..

The Poem

During rehearsals, we have been trying to figure out how to do the poem. We like the idea of using the typewriter and the typewriter ink ribbon but didn't really know how to link it all. Our first experiments looked like my sketch below. 

There are four parts to the poem which are read separately throughout the production - this lead us to think for each part, a single person would take a piece of ribbon from the typewriter and walk off holding it to a destination within the set (like a trail) whilst reciting the poem. We want the ribbon to be red to symbolize death and blood - bigger impact and stands out. The ribbon would go through the audience - right in their face - more powerful - gradually more ribbon is released from the typewriter, creating more 'red paths of death'

At the end of the show, we were thinking of having a huge amount of 'red ribbon paths' to come across and through the audience, to represent this MASS of death that occurred during WW1. 

After rehearsals, I did some sketches and thought about this red ribbon idea further. This journalistic writing and typing of the typewriter made me think about the idea of communication - how people form connections with each other like pathways. During the war, communication played an important role:

- communication between soldiers and their families

- communication between warring countries

The communication between the countries during the war is, for me, one of the reasons

  why WW1 got so bad. I feel that there was a lot of MIS-COMMUNICATION and a lot happened  that shouldn't have due to poor communication. 

This led me to think about how we could push this red ribbon idea - if the typewriters are representing communication, what about cross hatching or tangling up the ribbon? 

Would that take away this chilling 'path of death' idea?  Or could it emphasize the mayhem, confusion and frustration of the war - how everything turned into such a mess!

It is interesting creating a line out of ribbon which brings order; and especially symmetry when multiplied a few times - reminding us of order within soldiers and military structure. When this 'order' is messed up, it creates an interesting metaphor of how 'messy' and confusing the war was. 

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A further idea was hanging letters off these lines of communication - symbolic of each person effected by the war - letters written to families, telegrams, letters to the soldiers etc... 

Another way of representing this MASS of people who were effected. Letters are very personal and individual - bringing a lot of meaning and sympathy if they are all hung up together.

Prop sourcing

We are all currently looking/searching and keeping an eye out for 8 armchairs at all times. uckily today I found a cheap double armchair for a tenner! It suits the old fashioned looking theme so I bought it. This will be paid through our 'kitty' where we have all chipped in £20. 

This was a very good buy! 

Would be perfect for when two puppets are having an intimate conversation as two could fit perfectly together on it. 

Washing line idea - Gas attack scene

Letters - sketch book ideas

Set Design ideas - sketch book

MARY'S HAIR - THE MAKING

Horrors of War puppet

As a group, we experimented with this idea of creating a figure out of found objects that come together

Each person took charge of 'creating/finding' a limb and then when we came together and manipulated that limb..

During the experimentation, we manipulated the figure together, each on one body part, and got the figure to walk. We also liked the way the objects were scattered all over the room and then came together, walked as a figure, then completely fell to the ground into a pile of objects again. 

We really like the meaning an object brings, for instance, the clock - symbolising how time has past, reflection, memory...

Within our next exploration, we hope to find and bring more objects of relevance to create this figure

Sketch book - design ideas

The Horrors of War section - there is a lot of references to body parts being in pieces... 'picking em up in pieces' and 'replacing casualties' 'toe flicking off' etc...

Found it quite interesting to explore my earlier design and break it up into pieces that could come apart and join up together again - creating this dis-figured figure that appears and disappears with more than one manipulator...

Could experiment with the parts to create visual moments - explosions, war, attack, mayhem.. 

Could even start as a pile of junk/scraps/rubbish (something you would never expect to become a figure)

World War One: How did 12 million letters a week reach soldiers?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25934407 

'During World War One up to 12 million letters a week were delivered to soldiers, many on the front line. The wartime post was a remarkable operation, writes ex-postman and former Home Secretary Alan Johnson.For fighting soldiers it was essential to morale and the British Army knew that. It considered delivering letters to the front as important as delivering rations and ammunition.

Trains ran back and forth across Picardy under cover of darkness dropping some mail off along the route and unloading the rest at railheads where special REPS lorries took them to the "refilling points" for divisional supplies.
 Regimental post orderlies would sort the mail at the roadside and carts would be wheeled to the front line to deliver it to individual soldiers. The objective was to hand out letters from home with the evening meal. It's said that no matter how tired and hungry the soldiers were, they always read the letter before eating the food.'

 

Joe Glenton

http://joeglenton.com

Joe Glenton is a journalist and author with a focus on defence, security and war. He is also a British Afghanistan veteran.

Joe served in Afghanistan, Africa and the UK. He was the first British soldier to refuse to serve in Afghanistan on legal and moral grounds. Threatened with years in prison, he challenged and beat charge of desertion, which was withdrawn by the military before trial to avoid a public examination of the War on Terror.

He talks about this 'British Identity' and 'Imperial identity' and our perceptions of the army - how there are 'powerful idealogical drivers' to make people want to join, such as:
- masculinity
- ideas of heroism
- serving the country/Queen

We have a very patriotic culture which persuades people to join..

 http://socialistworker.co.uk/art/37319/First+World+War%3A+%E2%80%98I+refuse+to+murder+and+butcher+people+that+know+as+little+as+we+do+for+what+end+they+are+fighting%E2%80%99#prettyPhoto

First World War: ‘I refuse to murder and butcher people that know as little as we do for what end they are fighting’

Thousands of First World War appeals from men of military age arguing for exemption from conscription were released last week, writes Raymie Kiernan

Rehearsal Notes from today...

• Need to get at least 4 more typewriters
• More armchairs
• Sewing machine
• Hospital beds?
• Old TV

• We decided whether we need a kitty and treasurer? £20 each? To buy props we may need that we can't find/collect
• Contact Joe Glenton to see whether we can organise an interview with him or use his pre-existing interviews available on his site

• Puppet feet - need to have wood or rubber on base to stop the polystyrene noise they create and to give more weight
• Paint or cover in fabric - illusion of real shoes

Opening of production 

• Old people watching a TV documentary/News report/Interview with modern soldier 
• They wake up and what they listen to triggers memories - catalyst which sparks these stories
• Typewriters are revealed - sound effects for second story (feet marching, rain, gun fire..) 

'No Glory' and 'Stop the War'

No Glory is a campaign created in order to remember the Great War but not in the 'patriotic' traditional way.

''2014 marks the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the First World War. Far from being a "war to end all wars" or a "victory for democracy", this was a military disaster and a human catastrophe.''

''Instead we believe it is important to remember that this was a war that was driven by big powers' competition for influence around the globe, and caused a degree of suffering all too clear in the statistical record of 16 million people dead and 20 million wounded.''

http://noglory.org/index.php/articles/119-how-to-stop-the-commemoration-of-world-war-one-becoming-a-justification-for-future-wars#.Uu-cavl_s40 

Ex-British soldier Ben Griffin on why we will not fight for Queen and country

'I am a Human Being and my allegiance is not to Queen and Country but to the whole of Humanity.

I no longer accept the lies which perpetuate war.

I no longer accept that violence can lead to Peace.

Never again will I be complicit in the killing and torture of my Brothers and Sisters.

Never again will accept the vile religion of Patriotism.

I refuse to pull on that rancid uniform.

I refuse to fight for Queen and Country.'

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/ 

''Dedicated to ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, bringing the troops home and forcing the British government to change its disastrous foreign policies. We have initiated many campaigns around these issues and are also committed to opposing sanctions and military attacks on Iran, supporting Palestinian rights, opposing racism and defending civil liberties.''

I successfully contacted Stop war to find out if they know of any modern day soldiers we could interview; and they do! Currently I am sending an email back to them about our project which will be forwarded to numerous soldiers and families who have been involved with the Afghanistan war. If any reply, this would be extremely useful. As at the beginning of our production, we want the old people to be sleeping/watching TV. On the TV we want a current soldier talking about issues surrounding war today or a news report which will act as a catalyst to spark off these memories and talk about their experiences.