Over the weekend I have been making some more set pieces for the practice set. My thought here is to use 'quick and cheap' materials to rough out set components, play around with them and get a feel of how they function both aesthetically and functionally alongside the puppets. Successful pieces can then be made from MDF and properly decorated.

 I started out with a page of potential shapes:

 I've started with shapes P and Q. You won't see Q in the photos as it is in the garage drying, I'm trying out a mixture of PVA and woodchip for texturing the surface.

In response to the puppet testing last Thursday I thought it would be interesting to create a set of steps leading to a platform. This would give the comb guy some terrain to navigate. It also allows us to place more buildings in the foreground without obscuring the puppet, so we can build more of a city scape.

Here's where I'm at as of this evening:

I've Also been fixing the puppet up a bit, with thicker cotton for the wrist mechanisms (along with a new kind of knot so see if that helps). I also added some squishy pads on the palms to protect the wrist mechanics when he walks on his hands.

White might also help make the hands more visible during performance.


 I thought it would be interesting to have two figures shaking hands or sat opposite one another at a table. Tiny cities in each of their heads represent their thought process, personality, drives ect. Between them a third city is built up as a kind of 'dialogue' between the two figures. Perhaps this could represent the unspoken communication that might lie underneath a simple gesture like shaking hands. For example if two business partners finalize a deal or two friends part ways. Under the surface a war wages both internally in each figures head and externally in the void separating the two.

(If I turned this into a piece I don't think I would color divide the buildings or space as explicitly, the performance should speak for itself.)

If I merge the current concept for the play with this image I would probably have to start almost from scratch, but at the moment I'm giving it careful thought.

I have my induction at Puppet Place on Tuesday morning, so tomorrow night Bee and I will meet up to discuss the project and nail a few things down in order to come up with a treatment of the project to present to Chris and Rachel at the induction.