Stage Direction + Set & Costumes Design
Design Sketches
Musical Puppet Theatre | An Account of the State of That Place (Or how to drink a glass of water)
Commissioned for the 2015 Tunbridge Wells Puppetry Festival |Concept, Direction & Set Design > Pedro Ribeiro | Text > Jennie Buckman | Music > Tom Hartley Booth | Associate Director & Actor > Tania Azevedo | Puppeteer > Sara Henriques | Design & Puppets Fabrication > Rui Rodrigues | Sprange’s Voice > Nick Blatchley
> Director’s Note
Memories are “little things” that are closed inside of our brain, or shut inside a drawer, or stored away in the attic. Small people come out from a mother’s womb and we end up our lives inside large wooden boxes. Finding memories and bringing them back to life is something that is part of me since I was a child. Inspired by Smart’s naïve art and Sprange’s “The Tunbridge-Wells guide, or an account of the ancient and present state of that place” we incorporated into a contemporary aesthetic several references of the 18th century puppet theatre and toys. The shows that lampooned famous people and satirized current fashions are the basis to recreate the feel of travelling story-tellers and the theatre performed in portable booths, back in the day. An account of the state of that place or How to drink a glass of water brings back to life “little things” from the history and characters of a period drawing direct inspiration from, and celebrating the language present in British Folk Art through the sounds, literature and images of Tunbridge-Wells’ cultural background.