Thursday, September 25, 2008
Puppetry transforms actors into magical creatures in the fairy tale world of “The King Stag.”
The University of Kansas Theatre for Young People presented the play to elementary school audiences this week and the organization will continue performances for the public this weekend.
Photo Gallery
The Puppet Master
The University Theatre performs "The King Stag" through puppetry and live acting.
Performing the play at the University was the idea of Spencer Lott, Lawrence junior. Last semester, Lott proposed the play to the season selection committee in the department of theatre and film.
Lott said a friend suggested “The King Stag” as a play that would lend itself well to puppetry. Lott designs and creates puppets for shows, some of which he writes himself.
The play is an adaptation of an 18th century fairy tale, and tells the story of a king who wants to find someone who loves him for who he is.
He enlists the help of a wizard who gives him a lie detecting magical statue to use while interviewing potential spouses. After an evil prime minister interferes, a “magic mantra” is used by the characters to put their spirits in different bodies.
Lott designed eight puppets for the play and trained student actors to use them. The actors wear seven puppets throughout the show and the eighth puppet is the magical statue.
“The puppets are kind of the glue that combines these two worlds together,” Lott said.
Susan Rendall, costume shop manager for the department of theatre and film, and Gail Trottier, cutter and draper for the costume shop, worked with 30 students to help Lott bring his designs to life.
Trottier said her favorite characters to create were Kovar and Keno, who are moving piles of trash.
The costume designers covered Kovar and Keno in lightweight objects including ladles, straw hats, socks, scarves, beads and toy army men.
“It’s like decorating a Christmas tree,” Trottier said.
Lott said puppeteers usually tried to conceal that their puppets were made from common objects. The materials for the puppets in “The King Stag” were not concealed because the characters were supposed to look as if they lived in a junk world.
One thing the costumers had to keep in mind was the actors’ safety. The main concern was the weight of the puppets, some of which reached 25 pounds. Costumers also considered balance and temperature.
The actors who play Kovar and Keno have to wear camping backpacks to distribute the weight of the puppets onto their hips.
Trottier said the puppets for “The King Stag” were more complex than any she had worked on in the past. Kovar and Keno each took about 80 hours to complete.
Lott said one of the greatest challenges for the show was the size of the puppets. One puppet, The Mistress of the Shadows, is about 11 feet tall and 16 feet wide.
The cast also had a shortened rehearsal time to prepare for the show. Lott said it was challenging because many of the puppets were still being constructed at the time of rehearsal.
Lott is a designer and choreographer for the show, but he is not performing in it.
“This was kind of fun,” Lott said. “To build the puppets and put them in someone else’s hands and see them come alive.”
Dennis Christilles, associate professor of theater and film, directed the show and said the cast worked to build the characters in the same way the puppets were built.
“What the cast brings into it is a kind of flesh and blood reality to these different characters,” Christilles said.
Rebecca Ralstin, Shawnee senior, plays the head housekeeper in the king’s court. She said the kids in the audience reacted well to the story.
“The puppets really just give that extra magical twist to it,” Ralstin said.
“The King Stag” will be performed at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall.
— — Edited by Jennifer Torline
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Comments
Puppets bring fairy tale to life
Wow, that's great.
Puppets bring fairy tale to life
Oooh, can't wait.
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