Puppets - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 31

Hinge and Brackett, aka George Logan and Patrick Fyffe.
ladies getting away with salacious gossip, done with such craft, accuracy and love that even
those in the audience were sometimes unaware that the joke was on them. To be unaware that
these ladies were men must have made for a strange evening indeed. But once again, a little
distancing, as with puppets, allows for the hitting of direct targets.
My i lms are usually criticised for being overtly theatrical, as though there is a set genre for
puppet i lms. I have in my defence been trying to put more focus on the puppet as performer,
building a stronger connection between the puppets and the audience, by cutting out all the
clutter. Being so separate from the audience is my main disappointment with stop motion.
In theatre these days, the most satisfying experiences are when there is little barrier between
the performer and the audience. My heart sinks to see a curtain, with the emotional removal
that instils. Most companies are encouraging spaces where it's not 'them' and 'us, separated by
the straight line of the edge of the stage, but where the actors spill out into the auditorium.
Great spaces such as the Royal Exchange in Manchester, the Courtyard and Swan Theatres
in Stratford-upon-Avon, and the Cottesloe at the National Theatre put the emphasis on the
performer and the direct shared experience of storytelling with the audience. This could be
letting the cinema do the spectacle part, while theatre concentrates on actors
communicating immediately with the audience. I have tried with my i lms to focus
on the performance of the puppet. Budgets, schedules and brave commissioning
editors allowing, I strive to make a i lm with puppets that communicate with the
emotional responses I experience inches from a live performer. I know it can be
done. Live puppets are being used more and more in theatre and opera, and I
hope that stop motion becomes part of this cross-over.