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The motion of the characters
The small character in wood or cardboard gets stuck into a slide and moves from right to left and left to right, on the stage, in front of the spectator. Some have tried to animate the small figure, for example an arm which moves, a head which bends etc ,but toytheatre is able to remove one character in a definite attitude and brings the same character in another, ie Richard on horseback, Richard sleeping, Richard being wounded, Richard ranting, Richard dead. This action must be swift, so that the spectator does not suspect anything. You do that by attracting the attention on a different character and perhaps change could take place behind another character.
The Danes have invented striking slides which enable the character to show its left or right side.
Previously the character has been painted on both sides. So you have a cardboard actor who comes at left and leaves in the same direction. Whereas the exit of any character is almost impossible if it has only one side. The character with one side exit if you like on his or her heels. But with two sides painted and swiftly handled, the illusion of life is produced. In general, the more illusions, the better the play. Spectators have to be won with endless wonders. The best toytheatre practitioneers pile up special effects in order to compensate for the risk of boring the audience with small cardboard figures.
We were in the chapter of motion in toytheatre. In Hanau museum, they do not use slides, but the stage is carved underneath and the characters glide in grooves. The illusion is still better obtained.
It is possible to imagine movement through the jumping jack system for the small character. The stage will not exist, ie the platform where the character stands and the puppet will be hanging on rails above through the head while the puppeteer will pull the thread.
The last idea for motion is to use magnets below the stage and magnetise also the basis of the character.
I hope you see now that toytheatre has great aesthetic sense, movement and the next piece to talk about will be drama.
Theatre de salon
Theatre de salon has staged various dramas, Ivanhoe after Walter Scott, performed at Leeds in 1995, sceneries by Bawden. The swineherd after Andersen. The miller and his men, the little matchgirl after Andersen, the Two sisters, characters by Peter Peasgood. The Horse of Troy after Orlando Hogdson,Cyrus in Babylon is the last private show staged in 2002.The first show being Bussy d'Amboise after Chapman premiered in Brantome in 1995 Theatre de salon is eager to recruit all sorts of performers from all walks of life. They will do the voice over and manipulate the characters. Please mail baud24@hotmail.com for this sort of adventure.
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