Panto Puppet

[Django]

Hi, I need a bit of advice.

 

We're doing a panto of Dick Whittington and we'e got this lovely little mouse character. The Mouse is a sesame street style puppet, (only from the waist up). It's usually easy to hide the operator behind something but now we've got a problem. The Director has decided that the mouse should appear in the walkdown. If your'e familiar with panto, you'll know that this consist of all the performers walking down center stage and bowing (basically an elaborate curtain call), and ive just got no idea how to hide this puppeteer.

 

Usually he just hides behind something. But the walkdown is set is some grand magical fairy pantoland, so none of the hides we're using in other scenes (e.g a shop's counter, a barrel on a ship) will look right, if we just plonk them there. Is there something we can construct,that will look right in this heaven like realm??, then he can just pop up from behind it. But then to add the confusion, the director said it would very nice if the puppet could some how "walk-down" like everyone else, i.e. move across the stage. Up until now the puppets appearances have been very obvious (i.e. behind something- punch and judy style) but for the final appearance the director would like there to be a sense of mystery about it, so the kids wonder "how did they do that? - that mouse must be real!".

 

These are the ideas I have so far (and they're all kind of rubbish):

- 4 of the tallest chorus dancers stand around the puppet as if they're carrying him on their shoulders and the puppeteer (whose quite short) hides behind them

or

- the puppet "drives" a remote control car along the stage

or

- we construct some elaborate cart-like truck that's wheeled on, white the puppeteer hiding inside

 

But, they all sound quite problematic/potentially flawed/too much hassle for a 10 second appearance. I'm sure there's a much better idea that I just haven't thought of.

 

 

 

Really I need advice from someone with experience in magic. Is there a magician's technique that involves concealing a stagehand or assistant that we could adapt?? Does anyone have an inventive way in which, this puppet could enter and exit, while concealing the puppeteer. Few! It sound's crazy when you say it like that! But yeah, any ideas would be happily received, I'm really scratching my head about this one.

 

Thanks in Advance!!

[ImagineerTom]

At it's heart ALL magic (and to a lesser degree special effects) is about spending far too much time, money and creativity addressing a problem than any normal person would think is sensible. That's the ultimate principle of every magic trick going and I've got a portfolio of shows where (literally) millions of dollars have been spent on tonnes of equipment which no-one knows exists and all makes something incredibly trivial happen when compared to the amount of work that has gone in to it, rather than the amount of work the audience /thinks/ has gone in to it. I'm working on bits for shows that won't hit the stage until 2017 but right now people are learning skills and practising techniques that they need to disguise just how much effort has gone in to something that is presented so flippantly.

 

I can think of dozens of ways to achieve what your director wants but (by definition) none of them are "simple" or "easy" and if you think the things you've mentioned so far are too much hassle/cost/work then you're not going to get anywhere with this. Any one of those ideas is perfectly valid but if you don't have the time and resources to build and rehearse them properly then they will look terrible, as will anything else.

[paulears]

Do a Basil Brush, and stick him and the operator in a box on castors and have him wheeled on. Basil usually has a very simple box, and it often features swappable front and side panels, so it just gets dressed up for the finale. Instead of coming in from the back, he just gets slid on from the side.

[Django]

At it's heart ALL magic (and to a lesser degree special effects) is about spending far too much time, money and creativity addressing a problem than any normal person would think is sensible. That's the ultimate principle of every magic trick going and I've got a portfolio of shows where (literally) millions of dollars have been spent on tonnes of equipment which no-one knows exists and all makes something incredibly trivial happen when compared to the amount of work that has gone in to it, rather than the amount of work the audience /thinks/ has gone in to it. I'm working on bits for shows that won't hit the stage until 2017 but right now people are learning skills and practising techniques that they need to disguise just how much effort has gone in to something that is presented so flippantly.

 

I can think of dozens of ways to achieve what your director wants but (by definition) none of them are "simple" or "easy" and if you think the things you've mentioned so far are too much hassle/cost/work then you're not going to get anywhere with this. Any one of those ideas is perfectly valid but if you don't have the time and resources to build and rehearse them properly then they will look terrible, as will anything else.

 

 

Sorry, my wording wasn't quite right. By hassle I purely meant money. I am perfectly happy to spend ludicrous amounts of time on this. I have already spent two months creating loads of puppets for an incredibly elaborate underwater uv sequence that lasts less than 2 mins. The only problem is the budget. We can spend a little bit of cash on this but not massive amounts, and thats a problem that I have no control. My aim is to find something that is clever and creative without costing a complete fortune. My main problems with the previous three ideas is more that they might not be right (i.e. have potential to go wrong or just aren't "magic" enough). Please please let me know at least some of your thoughts. It's more comping up with a suitable idea that im having a problem with rather than the time & money. Thank you so much!

[Charlotte_R]

I like the remote controlled car idea, although I think you should get a second puppet (if possible) in order to make the car a permanent thing (ie, rather than just sitting the puppet on top). I think that would allow you to pad the puppet out, or even add some animatronics to be able to do some minor controlling of the puppet.

 

The main problem that I see is that the puppet could be too small to be easily seen?

 

[ImagineerTom]

As I said, if any of the ideas you've already had are "too much" effort/time/money/risk then nothing anyone else could suggest would be any easier. You are (literally, ironically) asking for the impossible - epic high level magic or effects which require skills across multiple disciplines and vast amounts of planning and equipment... but in no time, with no money, overseen by people with no experience.

 

Personally I'd go with your initial idea of the dancers "carrying" the puppet, after that I'd go with Paulears idea of a roll on box, either way I'd forget the very notion of attempting to make your puppeteer "invisible" or anything else complicated because you don't have any of the required resources to even begin to do justice to the concept. Choose something simple, practical, obtainable and focus on doing it well.

[Ynot]

Last time we did this with a fox hand puppet, we cut a hole with a flap-trap in the front of the stage.

Operator under the stage thrust (essentially a section of Litedeck) pops his hand up through the trap at the right time - hit the fox with a tight spot to highlight him and away you go.

A tethered string on the flap to pull it closed again after her drops down.

Assuming you can get under the stage and that you can cut the hole (and of course properly fill'repair it post show) that's probably the simplest.

 

Otherwise, create an emu-style effect where the operator carries on a box with a false back/base - puppet up through the top pf the box - false arm in the operator's finale jacket fixed around the box and again - very simple option.

[kerry davies]

Using my Celtic brain and thinking laterally, why not do some literally "sideways thinking" and have said mouse appear at odd spots peeking round tabs, over set and such like during the walkdown lit by a special each time with "He's behind you" going on?

 

Several "meece" figures popping up in quick succession might actually be a feature and the puppeteer rounding it all off by joining as the final walkdown in full view. He could even walk down with hands behind his back and the mouse creep into view on someone's shoulder.

Edited November 13, 2015 by kerry davies

[Django]

Thank you so much everyone. This is the first time I've used this forum and I'm so glad to have received so many replies so quickly. I'm really surprised to have had so many encouraging responses. Well we've got a production meeting on Monday then the director will have to make the final call, but I'm definitely presenting all of these ideas. Thank you for all your advice !! Edited November 13, 2015 by Django

[w/robe]

Last time we did this with a fox hand puppet, we cut a hole with a flap-trap in the front of the stage.

Operator under the stage thrust (essentially a section of Litedeck) pops his hand up through the trap at the right time - hit the fox with a tight spot to highlight him and away you go.

A tethered string on the flap to pull it closed again after her drops down.

Assuming you can get under the stage and that you can cut the hole (and of course properly fill'repair it post show) that's probably the simplest.

 

Otherwise, create an emu-style effect where the operator carries on a box with a false back/base - puppet up through the top pf the box - false arm in the operator's finale jacket fixed around the box and again - very simple option.

I think it is nice if the puppeteer is in the curtain call too.

 

Could the mouse come through the floor at the top of the treads. Depending on sight-lines and structure you could have a long narrow trap covered in overlapping lycra so he can arrive from the wings. The mouse takes his bow (all done by the ASM) and then the puppeteer comes from the wings, picks him up, while masking what he is doing with his body, and then joins the rest of the cast DS.

[Whiskers]

why not make the puppet larger, then costume a very small person for the walk down - so long as both are in scale

[cedd]

Not all puppets have to have people inside of them;

http://s513.photobucket.com/user/ceddison/media/Web%20images/C54C95AB-2A52-43EB-A024-D21FD52853DD_zps3wddjv1o.mp4.html

 

http://s513.photobucket.com/user/ceddison/media/Web%20images/BFDBC4BA-BF06-4A0D-95CD-5A57C522DD57_zpssats1son.mp4.html

 

Remote control car servos are all you need.

The mouse could come on sat on something that definitely couldn't hold the operator (maybe carried on a tray, or even popping out of someone's hat). You still maintain the magic of not seeing the operator actually making the thing move, so nothing is destroyed for the kids. The operator could even be the person whose hat it is sat on.

 

Both of the above videos are of animals used alongside puppets. Carefully mixing them up means the audience can spend the whole show thinking its a puppet, only to see it get picked up and carry on working.

 

If the end of the panto is a ball/party scene then could it even have its' own sedan chair carried by two chorus members?

[DrV]

If the end of the panto is a ball/party scene then could it even have its' own sedan chair carried by two chorus members?

... one of whom could be the puppeteer with the false arm trick.

[Dave m]

It would help if we had a vague idea how big the mouse is?One assumes not life size, and also not big bird?

[Django]

It would help if we had a vague idea how big the mouse is?One assumes not life size, and also not big bird?

 

He's about 12 inches tall, but only from waist to head (he's got no lower half). Imagine Elmo sized. :)