I am so lucky to be spending my weekend learning about puppetry performance with Fergus J. Walsh, Associate Professor of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut, and several other fascinating people.
Today we learned a few things about communicating with our hands. We were asked to perform a 2 minute story, with a beginning, middle and end with no props. It was so challenging but also such fun!
Tomorrow we will be exploring another kind of puppetry, which I am really excited to try – three-person puppetry! We won’t be covering marionette performance, but I already knew that and am eager to learn other ways to puppeteer! Wolfie might join me anyway just for fun. He’s needs a break from tending to his beloved tree.
Looking back I realise how lucky I have been that members of the community here in Skerries took a chance on me and my puppeteering efforts in the first place! It can be a stressful way to learn, just diving headlong into putting on a show. I feel much more devoted to the practice now that I am learning from a puppeteer and tutor in a supportive group setting, than when I was trying to teach myself by watching videos and practising alone.