Where Are You? Simon Rann and Compagnie Philippe Genty
09/11/2013
Simon Rann is an Australian actor, dancer and master puppeteer. He presented this year’s UNIMA John Phillips Memorial Lecture on his ongoing career with Compagnie Philippe Genty and the way in which they create their work. Simon is performing in Dustpan Odyssey which appeared as part of The Little Angel Theatre's Suspense Festival 2013.
Simon began by posing the question which he believes is at the heart of Genty’s work, and perhaps the world of puppet theatre in general.
Where Are You?
Puppetry has the ability to transport people both far from and close to the familiar. We know that this is an object without life, but believe it to have a spirit. It is uncanny, but also comforting. The act of leaping across this peculiar void enables us to ‘open drawers’ – to access areas of the unconscious that are otherwise hidden.
Simon told us about the death of Genty’s father, the traumatic event he believes led to his interest in puppets and objects as ‘image-metaphors’. They are manifestations of the symbols he creates in his dreams, which come straight from his unconscious. His puppets are visual synonyms designed to communicate his unconscious to his audiences.
This is why his puppetry has this strange familiarity. His work is built up of images from his interior landscape, presented as metaphors for the audience to interpret using their latent awareness of their own unconscious. The images are familiar because they come from a place we all have inside us, and yet strange, because we usually only stray there in dreams.
So, where are you? Wandering through your own interior landscape, hand in hand with Philippe Genty. No wonder the work of the company is so affecting.
Having seen Simon perform in Dustpan Odyssey, I can vouch for the peculiar emotional places to which Genty’s work takes you. A madcap retelling of Homer’s classic, the show is incredibly funny. But there were also occasions when I felt a lump in my throat. When a particular image was presented, using only a few household objects, I was surprised by the fact that I understood exactly what that image represented. And I looked around, and everyone in the audience was seeing it too. It is an emotional and almost sacred experience to come together with strangers in a collaboration of belief, united by the animist tendencies we all cultivated in childhood, leaping across the void of knowledge and belief to end up in a place where anything is possible.
More from Simon Rann.
More on Compagnie Philippe Genty.
More on The Little Angel Theatre.
Charlie Hoare
Princess Mononoke: Charting The Journey
07/10/13
We're very pleased to bring you the next instalment of the 'Princess Mononoke' story. If you've missed out on the video diary entries so far, you can view our R&D footage here, and 'Bum Cam' Part 1 here.
Part 3: Princess Mononoke Behind The Scenes
In this instalment we arrive at the New Diorama Theatre, London, to perform our stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli's animated film for the very first time. As the first ever staging of a Hayao Miyazaki film, nerves were well and truly jangling - we all felt the weight of responsibility to all the fans of the original film to honour the original they know and love. This video covers our first few performances, and we would like to dedicate it to the audiences who attended them: your support, warmth and wonderful feedback meant so much to us, and continues to inspire us now.
In Part 3 we'll cover the rest of the April 2013 New Diorama Theatre run, and begin preparations Whole Hog Theatre's biggest challenge yet - our transfer to Tokyo.
A Bit About Bum Cam
Throughout the devising and rehearsal process for Princess Mononoke, we have documented the highs, lows, loves and laughs via a very special source - Jess Neale, cast member and puppet assistant, aka A Kodama, aka Toki, aka Moro's Hind. It was Jess's last role which became synonymous with the documenting process, and led to her and her watchful little camera earning its affectionate nickname: Bum Cam.
Camera and original edit by Jess Neale
Edited by Alexandra Rutter
All designs shown are subject to artist copyright.
A Bear Necessity - Aurora Marches For The Arctic
25/09/2013
On September 15th a giant people-powered polar bear walked through central London. Sam Wightman, who played Okkoto in our production of 'Princess Mononoke' , was lucky enough to be part of Aurora, helping to manipulate her right paw as she travelled from Westminster to Shell Headquarters, and has written about his experiences.
Aurora's parade - part protest, part performance - was part of #Iceride: a global day of action that saw people in over 110 cities around the world protest against Arctic destruction. Sadly, just days after this unifying event, the Russian Coastguard illegally boarded a Greenpeace ship with knives, water cannon and guns. Please read on to find out the latest, and how you can help.
Sam (writing 16/09/13):
"Puppeteering Aurora was an incredible experience. Her sheer size means that it requires fourteen puppeteers to operate her - and that's not including the ten 'haulers' who get the three-and-a-half tonne puppet rolling.
The distance between all of the puppeteers meant that we couldn't use breath control to communicate like we did inside Princess Mononoke's larger puppets, and cohesion was hard to find when we began rehearsals. To solve this, we had to really understand the mechanics of Aurora. Knowing the limitations and requirements of every part increased our awareness of the puppet as a whole, helping us to function as a complete unit.
Once we had mastered the basic walking rhythm, we could fully give life to the puppet by working towards conveying a true sense of weight. The puppet cannot exert the same forces as the muscles of a real polar bear, nor can its bulk shift with gravity or momentum in the same way as a real animal. However, by emphasising details such as suspension and placement of the heel and toe, we managed to bring Aurora to life.
Two hours of puppeteering was exhausting, but absolutely worth it for the reactions of people lining the streets and waving from cars and windows. The thousands marching with us for Greenpeace created such a charged atmosphere, and hearing the rallying messages of the speakers outside Shell HQ made me extremely grateful that I was able to be part of such a magical creative project, for an even greater cause."
Three days after the #IceRide Aurora march,
15 armed Russian Coast Guards
illegally boarded
Greenpeace's ship, the Arctic Sunrise.
The ship had been part of a peaceful protest against energy giant Gazprom, and was circling Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya platform inside international waters at the time is was boarded. This area is outside the jurisdiction of Russian authorities, making the boarding of the ship unlawful.
The Arctic Sunrise arrived in the Russian port of Murmansk yesterday, after being towed there by the Russian security services over the weekend. During the journey Greenpeace's 30 activists remained under armed guard. When they arrived they were granted consular access, with diplomats from some countries being allowed to board the ship to meet them and see the conditions they were being held in. Some of them were allowed to use consular staff phones to call family. According to a recent email update from Greenpeace, the activists are all in good health and their morale is high, despite being detained in Murmansk with uncertain access to lawyers.
The Greenpeace activists need your help. Please send an email to the Russian ambassador in London demanding the release of Greenpeace's peaceful activists. This video shows what the protesters are up against - please share this footage of them being sprayed by water cannons and threatened with firearms as widely as you can.
For more information and to be kept up to date:
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/
@GreenpeaceUK
@gp_sunrise
#FreeTheArctic30
#SaveTheArctic
Thank you!
The Whole Hog Team
Exploring Different Worlds: The Bristol Festival of Puppetry
11/09/2013
At Whole Hog Theatre, we try to push the boundaries of the worlds which are possible to create onstage. This impulse was at the forefront of our minds when we brought Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke to life this year in London and in Tokyo.
It is this impulse, too, that was at the heart of The Bristol Festival of Puppetry, which took place between 30 August-8 September this year. With a staggering array of performances, workshops, talks and screenings, the festival brought in talents from all over the world and took audiences and participants on a fantastical journey. We don’t have space to write up it all, but here’s a round up of some of our favourite festival moments!
Paper Puppet Engineering
with Emma Powell
Great skills to be learned here for a company who like to use recycled materials – scrap paper is everywhere! Emma talked as through some really simple techniques to do with folding,
scoring and constructing, and let us loose to play.
Top Tip: Use a spent Biro to score your paper for folding rather than a scalpel – you get to keep the full thickness and strength of the paper rather than cutting through half the thickness.
Bastard!
DudaPaiva Company
Inspired by Boris Vian’s satire, L’Arrache-coeur, this show was a masterclass in one of the most vital aspects of puppet manipulation – focus. A one man show, Duda Paiva plays an artist who has lost his way and finds himself in a bizarre netherworld full of junk. He shares the stage with two life size puppets which he puppeteers single-handedly and simultaneously. He breaks a lot of recognised puppeteering codes and the effect his invented language of manipulation creates is quite astounding. A real eye opener.
Catch It: At Suspense Festival, London, 1-2 November 2013. Click here for more information and international performance dates.
A Matter Of Life and Death
with Tom Morris and Toby Olié
A free and fluid workshop with two key creative from the National Theatre’s War Horse, this masterclass posed some interesting questions about the potential of the grey space between the inanimate and the animate object. When puppeteering we usually anthropmorphise, or at least ‘animalise’, the objects we are working with, but in this workshop we played with the idea of the stage in the middle of ‘life’ and ‘death’: the ‘living object’, and it’s right to life as an object in and of itself.
Top Tip: ‘Never Hurry A Puppet’ and ‘Peripheral Vision Is A Muscle – Exercise It!’
Les Hommes Vides/Life Still
a double bill from Invisible Thread and Folder Feather
These two shows, both set in dark post-apocalyptic seeming environments, showcased some of the best qualities puppet performances have to offer. Both extremely low tech, the dreamlike images presented by both shows rely on technical flair and pin point focus. The result is bittersweet, unsettling, seductive and eerie. The uncanny in a nutshell, beautifully executed. 
Catch Invisible Thread: At Skipton Puppet Festival, Yorkshire, 27-29 September and Suspense Festival, London 26-28 October 2013, both with post-show audience workshops. For more information click here.
Catch Folder Feather: At Skipton Puppet Festival, Yorkshire, 27 September. For more information and dates for other shows, click here.
Trash Hack
with Chris Pirie and Sarah Wright
An exuberantly playful workshop focusing on the qualities of objects and how they lend themselves to being imbued with certain qualities, intentions and emotions. Noisy and fast paced, groups came together to create creatures out of rubbish and showcase them, with Chris and Sarah giving direction and chairing feedback from the rest of the participants. This course shook the dust of some of the techniques we’d used when designing for Princess Mononoke, and threw up new questions and possibilities along the way.
Top Tip: Listen to your object or your material: the clues for bringing it to life are inherent in the qualities it already posseses. Also – dare to fail!
Festival Producers: Rachel McNally and Chris Pirie of Puppet Place
www.puppetplace.org/festival
www.facebook.com/puppetplace
@puppetplace #bfp13
Venues: Tobacco Factory Theatre, Raleigh Rd, Bristol, BS3 1TF
The Brewery, 291 North St, Southville, BS3 1JP
www.tobaccofactorytheatre.com
0117 902 0344
Princess Mononoke: Charting The Journey
26/08/13
OK, so we may have been a bit overambitious promising to leave only a week between video uploads. It's been a month, for which we are sorry! But we hope this new footage will be worth the wait. If you haven't seen our R&D video yet, scroll down to find it, or watch on Youtube here.
Part 2: Princess Mononoke Behind The Scenes
Throughout the devising and rehearsal process for Princess Mononoke, we have documented the highs, lows, loves and laughs via a very special source - Jess Neale, cast member and puppet assistant, aka A Kodama, aka Toki, aka Moro's Hind. It was Jess's last role which became synonymous with the documenting process, and led to her and her watchful little camera earning its affectionate nickname: Bum Cam.
Here is some exclusive behind the scenes footage of our preparations for the premiere of Princess Mononoke at the New Diorama Theatre, London, in April 2013. We hope it gives you the chance to get to know the team behind our crazy beautiful show a little better.
We will be bringing you more backstage footage over the next few months, documenting our very first week of shows, our transfer to the AiiA Theatre, Tokyo, in May, and our triumphant homecoming to the New Diorama for two weeks in June.
Camera and original edit by Jess Neale
Edited by Alexandra Rutter
All designs shown are subject to artist copyright.
For more information about our adaptation of Princess Mononoke, have a read of our blog archives or visit the Princess Mononoke project page.
The Whole Hog Team x
Princess Mononoke: Charting The Journey
26/07/13
We've been looking back through the videos and photos that have documented Princess Mononoke's conception, development and performance. Having captured the process step by step, we'll be bringing you exclusive images of the trials, tribulations, fun and frolics that have constituted this incredible rollercoaster of a project!
Part 1: Princess Mononoke R&D
In October 2012 we ran some research and development sessions for Princess Mononoke with student actors from the University of Warwick. We focused on object manipulation and puppetry, using a variety of recycled or repurposed materials to create creatures and shapes that evoked those which appear in Hayao Miyazaki's original film.
The beautiful music underscoring the footage is by Freya Bryson, and is a composition inspired by the unforgettable music of Joe Hisaishi which appears in the original animation. Although the decision was eventually made to rearrange Hisaishi's original music for our adaptation, Freya composed several pieces during the early stages of the show's development, one of which is showcased here.
Performers:
Joe Boylan
Lilith Brewer
Oliver Davis
Shubham Saraf
Music:
Freya Bryson
Video Editing:
Alex Rutter
For more information about our adaptation of Princess Mononoke, have a read of our blog archives or visit the Princess Mononoke project page.
More photos and footage next week!
The Whole Hog Team x
The Hogs Go Into Hibernation
15/07/13
So...what's next for Whole Hog Theatre?
Before I begin discussing the future and looking forward to new ventures, I first want to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you for things that have past. Our wonderful digital officers, Anais Higgins and Laura Hunt, are sadly leaving us to take on new opportunities elsewhere. Anyone who has ever emailed our admin account will have been met by their wonderful and diligent services and they have done a sterling job of keeping us up to date and active. We are very sad to see them go and will miss them dearly From me and from all of us here - a massive thank you Laura and Anais and we wish you all the luck for your future endeavors!
OK – so here we are at the close of Princess Mononoke looking to the future and assessing the past. Staging Princess Mononoke has been a hard road – a once in a lifetime opportunity and something we will remember forever - but hard. We have pushed ourselves and the production to the absolute limits, striving against the constraints of no money, little time and even less sleep!
So, myself, my fellow hogs and the rest of the Princess Mononoke team will be ‘going dark’ over the rest of 2013. This means that there will be no productions running over the next 6 months whilst we make plans for the future. We have had to disperse from our beloved base in Leamington Spa and are planning our next move from all over the country. As many people will know, we want to take Princess Mononoke onwards and upwards, but at the moment we just do not have the resources, support or finances to do this. This is something we plan to change!
We are going to take some time out from creating productions in order to find a viable and sustainable future for Whole Hog Theatre and our wonderful team. We need to find a way to give back to our artists and staff, not just by providing them with opportunities, but by paying them the wage they deserve. As many of you who read this will know, we are a completely volunteer run and lead company. Every penny we earn goes into covering the costs of the show. So far, we have needed to rely on donations and grants such as from the wonderful Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and from our generous supporters on Kickstarter, but we have no long term investors or backers. We have made a lot of incredible friends, and found kindness and support in many places, but we now need to find a way to make this wonderful support generate an income for everyone involved. We will be spending the next six months searching for mentors, sponsors and investors to ensure that we can continue to produce work like Princess Mononoke and bring San and Ashitaka’s incredible story to a wider audience. It is going to be another hard road – but we love a challenge!
To anyone who tunes in to read our blogs, never fear – we will be continuing to keep you up to date with what we’re up to. There will be lots going on - we will be off out researching, building our skill base and finding our way into the next phase. As well as our blogs, keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter for all our Whole Hog news – we’ll be putting up photos and videos from our Princess Mononoke adventure over the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.
Here’s to the future!
Alex Rutter
Artistic and Executive Director, Whole Hog Theatre
Farewell ‘Princess Mononoke’….
01/07/13
All good things must come to an end…
This has been the most incredible experience for Whole Hog Theatre. As such a young, start-up company, to be privileged enough to adapt this much loved and admired piece of work from one of the most influential animation studios in the world, and then to have it received so well, by its original creators as well as its audiences, is simply incredible.
What a ride it has been! We started out in a railway arch in Leamington Spa (‘The Sty’), rehearsing on grotty, smelly carpet and in often freezing conditions. We soon went on to the shiny intimacy of The New Diorama Theatre, and later onto the vast expanse of the AiiA Theatre stage in Japan, finally returning to our home turf at The New Diorama to conclude the package. To have had the support of both film fans and theatre goers; to sell out two runs, the first in 72 hours, second in 4 hours; and to have played to 800 people in Japan each night at the AiiA theatre, and 5000 in house and 30 thousand online at Cho Party was simply amazing. And finally, meeting Suzuki-san again, and meeting Miyazaki-san for the first time at Studio Ghibli was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. I know that I and everyone with me could not have felt more honoured or indeed purely happy to be there. My warmest thanks will forever be with Studio Ghibli for their faith in us and our work, and their approval having experienced the show for themselves means everything to us.
The last run at the New Diorama Theatre has been incredibly emotional and there have been many, many tears. To have the final standing ovation on the last night, and to see the tears shining in the cast’s eyes as they said their lines for the last time and took their bows, filled me with pride. Thanks to them and our wonderful backstage team, whenever we have had a crisis, as every production does, we have bounced back with gusto and determination.
I know we are incredibly lucky to have such talented individuals working with us for free and that we have been able to build a family in this environment. Every one of our cast and crew feel so privileged to have been able to be a part of this and we don’t want it to end here.
My favourite moments so far:
- Getting THAT email - the one with the rights
- Having to go onstage instead of our Jiko (played by Jack Gyll) when he fell really ill 45 minutes before the show and his understudy had no time to cover for him. I will never forget, as I am sure is true of everyone else, running around backstage in a wart and a beard and a skirt, in and out of quick changes, up and down from balconies, and trying to balance bear hats on my head…
- The final night in London sitting on the front row to support!
Here is a smattering of our reviews from across the runs in case you have not seen them yet:
NDT 1
Tokyo
NDT 2
I guess the best way to end is by saying thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible. There are more people than we can name, but we are incredibly appreciative to all those who have helped make this a reality.
And I guess there is one final note: we really want to take this onwards and upwards. Based on the amazing support we have received, we think this project has legs. We have had so much encouragement from our audiences that we are determined to continue improving and learning and go further with this production. With more time, more money and more guidance I hope this could go on to be seen by more people – we don’t want the show to die… watch this space…
Alexandra Rutter x
Director, Princess Mononoke
Mononoke Revisited
24/06/13
Our Princess Mononoke Vocal Coach, Laura Suzanne Hunt, comments on the show’s transformation since its first run at the New Diorama Theatre.
Well, what can I say? I cast my mind back to the opening night of Princess Mononoke on April the 2nd, when all the crew sat on the edge of our seats and watched as a miracle happened: we’d pulled it off! The show was a success! The emotions I felt were mainly relief and ecstasy. I buzzed all the way home to Oxford. Of course, there were a few improvements to be made and creases to iron out, but despite all the odds, we’d done it!
Since the run at the New Diorama Theatre, I have been involved in rehearsals as often as possible, both prior to and since the run in Tokyo. With the singing, multi-voiced puppets and need for projection over live music, there’s a great deal to do in order to ensure that the cast maintain the technical skills and vocal health necessary to support these elements of the production. My involvement, however, did not prepare me for the transformation witnessed on Friday 21st June, last week, when I saw Princess Mononoke in all its glory during the second New Diorama run.
Particular mention must go to the superb movement sequences between San (Mei Mac) and Ashitaka (Maximillian Troy Tyler). Ashitaka’s fevered nightmare, moving and beautiful the first time round, now sent chills down my spine, as Max commanded the stage with such captivating elegance. Even though I knew that the two leads weren’t going to kiss, I felt a huge amount of anticipation throughout their movement together, heightened still by Yuriko Miyake’s magnificent performance of the Theme Song as the accompaniment.
As the Vocal Coach, I must mention my Tatara girls – the actresses who play the Iron Town women who sing as they work the bellows. I think I’m right in saying that few of them would describe themselves as singers – more as actors who sing – which has meant that the work song was rather daunting to begin with. After losing confidence when singing unmic-ed in the cavernous Tokyo venue, they have well and truly brought it back up to scratch and yet further. Proud does not nearly cover my feelings as they sang on Friday night, having taken on all of my advice. Well done girls – for once, I had NO NOTES!
The final change I must note has more to do with the overall experience of the show than any individual element. Director Alexandra Rutter has battled many setbacks during the transfer to Tokyo and back, but her vision and determination have been ceaseless. The tweaks and changes she has made at every moment make for a much tighter, slicker and more confident production. Thanks to her and Charlie Hoare, the puppeteers’ finesse now means that Moro and Okkoto move like real animals. The cast, musicians and backstage team are now driving the show forward with skill and enjoyment – watching it, I am no longer on the edge of my seat wondering if the Shishigami will make his entrance, if the curtain will rise, or if a fight sequence will run to time with the music. I was fully immersed in the magic of the story, and there can be no better indicator of the success of the production than its audience feeling connected to and secure in the impossible world created onstage.
Laura x
Vocal Coach, Princess Mononoke
London to Tokyo and back: the story of a set
17/06/2013
Miri, my delightful right hand man, blogged a couple of weeks ago about the seeming impossibility of scaling up the set from an 8.5m stage to an 18m stage. In London, the idea is to envelop the audience in San’s forest; it reaches out into the auditorium, and its detail is best viewed at close quarters (the audience can touch it as they come in). The story literally happens around them, with actors next to them and behind them.
This intimacy, however, was clearly impossible to replicate in a space where even the front row was a few metres from the stage. So in Tokyo, we heightened thecentral tree and the other trees foliage and expanded the projection screen; this provided a sense of loftiness, helping the set to stand proudly in the space. And instead of trying to surround the audience in greenery we drew them into a world which existed only within the proscenium arch. We added “play boards” to the front of the set (the triangular pieces), which drew the eye in to the centre, helping the whole design to fit the stage snugly. Although the set grew in size hugely, we turned it in on itself; rather than reaching out to the audience, as it did in London, it invited their imaginations into it. It was more of a complete spectacle, a design to be seen in its entirety, instead of an encompassing environment. Now we’re back at the New Diorama, we have all the extra leaves, vines, mushrooms, moss, ferns, creepers and saplings we made for the AiiA playboards and extended trees. And we intend to make use of them - the all-encompassing nature of the set can now be taken to its furthest extreme . Audiences of the upcoming performances would be well advised to bring machetes.*
Its not just the set that’s had to change from London to Tokyo and back again. Our Stage Manager, Sarah, and our Make Up Designer, Scarlett, deal with the many quick changes backstage for our multiroling cast. Amongst their favourites are Amelie Leroy’s change from Moro to a guard (which involves four backstage team, a moustache and two minutes) and Adam Cridland’s change from a samurai to Lord Asano’s messenger, which takes five people, a moustache, a sword, the play’s largest hat, and twenty seconds. In Tokyo these changes were tricky because the backstage team had to run several miles every show, getting between these changes. In the New Diorama, the team are inches from the stage, but they have to do it all under the decking, which is four feet wide and in near total darkness. But where’s the fun without the challenge (and the bruised elbows)?
Polly Clare Boon x
Set Designer, Princess Mononoke
*We don’t actually condone this. The New Diorama staff put up with boars in their office, wolves on their patio, and demon tentacles in their backstage toilet with saintlike patience. Machete-wielding audience members may be a step too far. Sorry.
Cho-Party II in Japan
10/06/2013
Yuriko Miyake, our resident Japanese-American ball of fun (and warm up leader extraordinaire!), explains how hundreds of thousands of people saw the opening scenes of Princess Mononoke.
Whilst we were out in Japan last month Whole Hog Theatre was invited to perform at an event called Cho-Party II. Cho-Party is organized by NicoNico, a popular Japanese internet video site, the huge event is organised so fans of the site can perform to audiences as well as famous singers, groups or dancers.
At this event, we had more than 6,000 people in the audience as well as 560,000 people watching live over the internet. The place was HUGE! It was surreal! We had head-set-mics, which was obviously quite new for us since we hadn’t ever performed the piece on such a major stage. We performed the opening 10 minutes of Princess Mononoke. A lot of this scene is choreographed to music, so we had to run like athletes just to get to spot we needed to be on the next beat of the music. There were so many cameras which projected onto 2 ginormous screens, so the audience in the back also could see our faces, instead of watching bean-sized human beings maybe thinking those might be actual beans on stage!
At an event like this, you don’t really have enough time for practicing with all the technical elements, so, a lot of the time you just have to follow your instinct. Luckily, because we have a lot of trust between our ensemble, we can help each other deal with unpredictable happenings. You never ever know what could happen on stage. That’s when you need that trust from others. If you know the person really well, you just know what the person wants to do or say next when something goes wrong. And I personally think it’s one of the most important things on stage: team work.
One thing I thought was interesting and I didn’t realize this until recently, was that the Japanese press don’t really do reviews the in the same way as the UK. However, I’ve got so many wonderful comments from people who came to watch – I could fill many reviews with the great audience feedback! I’m honoured to be a part of this cast. I’m a NYC based performer, but it’s really nice to meet and work with people who I feel at home with in the UK.
Now, we are in our last week of rehearsing for our second Princess Mononoke run at the New Diorama Theatre! I can’t wait to get on the stage and enjoy the moment with everyone, and that means YOU, the audience as well!
Yuriko Miyake x
Oracle/Hi-sama in Princess Mononoke
"This is our job?!"
03/06/2013
Assistant Set Designer, Miri Vogler, shares some behind the scenes knowledge on how the team expanded the Princess Mononoke set in Japan.
"This is our job?!"
This is a sentiment that Polly (Set Designer) and I have expressed to each other numerous times over the past 5 months; whether that be prompted by a morning filled with painting plastic bottles to look like mushrooms, or a visit to see some of our favourite donators at the local recycling centre who have found more goodies for us (and when I say goodies, I mean old bed slats and broken fairy lights).
When our first run at New Diorama Theatre finished we high-fived, breathed a sigh of relief and then we legged it home, chucked some clothes into a suitcase and jetted off to Japan. Polly, Beckie (Producer) and I headed out a couple of weeks before everyone else so that we could begin the enormous task of scaling up the set from something that was appropriate for a 59 seat theatre to fit an 800 seat theatre. My initial thoughts when seeing the stage at AiiA for the first time were, "Oh my goodness, how are we ever going to make enough foliage to cover that?" This was a task, however, that turned out to be not the looming impossibility I had originally anticipated but another reminder that with hard work and a great team you can accomplish the nigh unthinkable.
A willing and welcome member of the Tokyo team was Kyoka (Set Assistant) who had helped us before our first run in London and was in Japan visiting her parents. We were also assisted in our workshop in Kita-Toda by a wonderful team from AiiA Theatre who got on board with all our weird requests ("Please help us turn these plastic bags and bits of old carpet into leaves”) industriously and cheerfully, despite the fact that, due to the language barrier, many of the instructions were given in an odd form of sign language.
This whole experience has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows, ranging from leaving The Sty – our workshop – at 5.00am slightly dazed and bleary-eyed after many nights of painting and glue-gunning, to peeping through the wings at AiiA Theatre and seeing our completed set beautifully lit in all its glory and an applauding audience full of impressed faces. That's when you know it's all been worth it.
That's when you get hit again by the amazing fact that, "This is our job!"
Miri Vogler x
Assistant Set Designer, Princess Mononoke