Blog Response #3

After reading about many different characters in chapter 4, I was drawn back to the part about "The Sneeze of Hercules"  The puppet was supposed to be percieved as being so big that all you saw of the puppet while it was on stage was its large nose or giant hand.  I like the idea of this puppet because it leaves your mind wide open for you to use your imagination about what the rest of the puppet would look like, you can make him look however you want, and that allows for the audience to be involved with the puppet show.  This puppet was made this way to show how large the puppet really was, and to make it "fit" into the show.  And again it allowed each person to picture the entire puppet in their own minds however they saw fit for the production.  The traits that the large nose or giant hand conducted through the show was its overall size, so that you could imagine how big the puppet was actaully supposed to look like.  I thought that the idea of making the puppet so large that it didn't fit on the stage or even in teh building, was a great idea.  They could have made the puppet as big as what would fit, and then made everything on a much smaller scale to try adn get the same effect, but I think the way that they did was much better becasue they the audience could compare the size of the puppet to themselves, and it again makes the audience a part of the play.

Blog Response #2

Example #1:  The Water Puppet show was super awesome.  I was amazed at all of the background preparation that goes along with it.  I found it interesting that each puppet had its own name, and they all needed to refer to them the same way otherwise they did not know what each other was talking about.  I found it very interesting that it was choreographed to a symphony.  He used rather simple items such as cloth, feathers, and streamer like materials to make the different puppets in the water tank.  The style he used, where there is no words, just puppets set to music was something that I had never seen before, and was definitely a great way to express it.  The different movements he used with the puppets were great, and how he brought the puppets to life varied; whether it was from the puppeteers moving them with sticks, or just moving the water through the tank and letting the puppets react in their own way.

Example #2:  Ralph Lee is very impressive with his mythical type of puppetry.  He uses masks, and humans as puppets.  They come in different sizes, from the giant woman on the wagon, to the mask and hands on the black curtain.  He works with each of his puppeteers to help them fully understand and show the personality and characteristics of each puppet.  He uses such a small stage, yes his puppets are in various sizes.  His performances are captivating.  His performances some across as an “old” mystical puppet show. 

Example #3:  I was amazed by the size of his puppets.  Many of them were reflective of the Chinese origin, with the giant dragons, and snakes.  Michael did an awesome job of using different colors to promote the story, and he used the size and color and movements to allow people to see the puppets from a long ways away.  I also found it very cool, that he was able to make something so bit in size, to be light weight, and comfortable for the puppeteers or wear and maneuver.