Trans-embodiment

Abstract

Puppet and material performance is often cast as visual theatre that seemingly relies on external performance practices. My research and experience however show that numerous contemporary companies’ and performers’ work is grounded in internal performance techniques that emerge, knowingly or not, from embodied practices. This article, premised on my practiced-based research of Compagnie Philippe Genty and Stuffed Puppet Theatre, reveals foundational internal performance techniques that are hidden beneath the surface of their visible techniques. In it, I theorize and begin to unravel a performance theory and practice that I am calling trans-embodiment. It proposes that puppet and material manipulation is an embodied practice in which direct and indirect embodied techniques typically associated with live bodies are transferred among live, puppet and material performers.

My investigations included production analysis of live performances and archival video of productions dating from 1986 - 2009, an excavation of artistic processes through the examination of rehearsal video, and participant observation during workshops as well as interviews with the founders of the companies and numerous current and previous company members and collaborators.

Notes

1 This article is based on and incorporates sections of my unpublished doctoral thesis ‘Puppets, Presence, and Memory: The Training Methods and Workshop Techniques of Compagnie Philippe Genty, Stuffed Puppet, and Inkfish’s Three Good Wives’, granted by the Department of Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London, 2015.

2 French director and puppeteer Philippe Genty and English choreographer and puppeteer Mary Underwood founded Company Philippe Genty in 1968. Originally a puppet theatre company, today it is considered one of the foremost European companies working in what is often referred to as visual theatre. Their work can also be described and has been marketed as interdisciplinary or dance theatre. Neville Tranter founded Stuffed Puppet Theatre in 1978. The company was initially based in Australia but soon after its founding moved to the Netherlands. Most productions involve Tranter as a solo actor and puppeteer performing as a character with a cast of puppets, though more recent productions include one other human actor.

3 See Steve Kaplin’s 1999 article ‘A Puppet Tree: A Model for the Field of Puppet Theatre’, to better understand the classification of puppets based on means of manipulation from hands on to remote control.

4 For more on this see Semiotica 47(1–4 )(1983), the writings of the Prague School and in particular the work of Henryk Jurkowski, Petr Bogatyrev, Thomas A. Green and W. J. Pepicello, and Matthew Reason.

5 The Feldenkrais Method was developed by and named after its founder, Moshe Feldenkrais (1904–1984). Information about the technique can be found online at http://www.feldenkrais.com/ (accessed 12 June 2016) as well as Feldenkrais’ book Awareness Through Movement, and numerous books and journals. The Alexander Technique was developed by Australian actor F. M. Alexander (1869–1955). A complete guide, developed by Alexander practitioner Robert Rickover, can be found online at http://www.alexandertechnique.com/ (accessed 12 June 2016).

6 I hope to write more on this notion in future articles.

7 Only one puppet, named Zeno, is used in Tranter’s workshop. He was created for the 1993 production Nightclub. This show, written by Luk van Meerbeke, is a multi-level show about an aging ventriloquist’s dummy (Zeno) and his younger, new human assistant Anthony (Tranter). The show travels from vaudeville to disco to a postmodern nightclub where Anthony and Zeno are making the most recent appearance. It is a tale of facing obsolescence, temptation and power.

8 This notion of breaking puppet action into beats is shared and taught by many puppeteers including Company Philippe Genty, Gavin Glover and Stephen Mottram. Tranter, at least in my understanding, is concerned with how this breakdown necessarily affects the entire understanding of character and interaction on stage not merely the moment to moment. Further, his manner of breaking down each action and reaction affects the performance of all performing partners including the live human, thus changing the expectations of live human behaviour on stage and bringing it in parallel with one’s puppet performing partners. This manner of breaking down action is similar to Mary Underwood’s awareness and use of the live human performer’s body in relation to manipulation.

9 In his own production work, Tranter makes clear decisions about what he shows using gesture, image, text, music and lighting. But I would suggest that in order to make a choice between methods of showing one must understand how each functions.

10 Examples of this can also be seen in Frankenstein (2000; ‘Frankenstein Cornerman meets the Doctor‘ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcyCC927cto&list=UUKjvVsrySaNfAsFhnlfwc6Q&index=9&feature=plcp) and Cuniculus (2009; ‘Cuniculus: Sissy the Rabbit’s Revenge‘ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbBG0gbfsmM&list=UUKjvVsrySaNfAsFhnlfwc6Q&index=8&feature=plcp) (accessed 21 June 2016).