Opera and Carnival
L'enfant et les sortilèges
First ideas
For the first ideas i looked up a range of self moved backpack puppets to try and find a way to create a character from the opera for a carnival .
We also got into groups to make object theatre with random bamboo sticks and other objects to try and show an emotion or word with the objects. This helped us understand how materials can be moved in a way to express a feeling or action which is important to the opera and especially a carnival.
The mother puppet
Here I was figuring out how to make the woman figure that would attach to the backpack that I was going to hold.
The main section was the t cross section of the wood which nearly all of the materials was constructed to.
We then made parts of the structure without the backpack to see how it would move and how the fabric would sit on top.
I looked at a range of tribal outfits and bold costumes to see how we could layer our fabrics or create a costume with the bamboo sticks. However we wanted to have a 1950s style to the mother at the end.
Here I created a 1.5 scale model of the mother on a wooden figure to see how the structure could be made around a human being. This help with the life sizes measurements and have a clear understanding of what she will look like.
I then did some photoshop drawings over the structure to see what clothes would suit her figure and how her head would work and look like.
I also used procreate to draw a more detailed version of the mother and then also had a clearer idea on the whole structure of the puppet and how it would move and be all attached.
This photo show some testing ideas of the fabric and colours of her dress and how we could make a steel wire frame inside and underneath that acts as the 'house' that the boy comes out from underneath.
There could be windows or doors to symbolises this and the steel would highlight some sort of prison bars.
The Boy
The mother was to be massive compared to the boy and the boy who would be shown by a human with a huge head would crawl out from under the mother puppet.
He also still be attached to the mother by the umbilical cord which would be used by the mother puppet to control him.
The mother would have a selector shape and elongated neck that would make her able to go close up to the boy and the audience without being near them in a creepy way.
I drawn the boy on procreate and added different costume elements and ideas to see what he would look like.
I went for a cheeky boyish style with strips and spenders that he could play with.
He clothes would be roughed and ripped up to show that the family was poor but also to show how he is a messy and outgoing child.
Construction
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To start off the making process we made miniature models on wooden figures to workout the measurements and structural elements needed.
Here shows how we tried to make a basic frame around my body and then added onto it to make it stronger and a more human shape. We added the PVC pipes as the circle of the dress by bending them and attached the ends with wooden dowels then hung together with string.
The string was supported by the lamp frame which we used to also support the chicken wire chest frame and wooden T cross section for the arms.
The arms were made out of bamboo that were connected by eye hooks. To create a form we covered the bamboo in foam to which we shaped and then covered in tights to allow an easy bend to the elbows.
The T cross setion was sued as the support for the back wooden plank that we screwed the back packed made from plasterzote that we heated and moulded into shape onto my body.
Here we were adding the arms and seeing how the moved. We then sewn bedsheets together to make the dress that we fitted over the structure. I made the breasts out of carboard and string which I attached to the chicken wire.
We made the head out of polystyrene to which we craved into shape and painted. I made the hair by paining toilet rolls to look like hair curlers then gluing strips of brown felt fabric around them which all together was placed around the head and secured with a fabric head dressing.
The head was secured onto a wooden block which was screwed onto the aluminium strip that acted as the elongated neck. The strip was then attached to the T wooden cross section and rubber tubing was placed around the aluminium strip to hide it.
Final outcome
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Site specific
After the carnival project we started the site-specific project which we took photographs of the rooms inside the old Arkwright building in Nottingham that we could place our puppet in.
Here you can see Photoshop pictures of the building which I have place the puppet and props inside. I have also added some audience members to make the scenes of the opera
