Thoughts from Rebekah / Artistic lead on Teater Animisme

Shadow puppetry isn’t new to me.

About ten years ago when I was living in Leeds I made multiple shadow puppet projects. Some working with musicians, some with dancers interacting with the shadows and some films made collectively with groups of refugees. It was then I had the idea of map projecting shadow puppets on to buildings.

But then a lot of other stuff happened in my life and other forms of puppetry took president. I focussed of animating 3D puppets and especially table top and hand puppets, as well as, devising and performing in shows.

So it’s been a while since I’ve worked in this form, and these past weeks have been about preparing for the workshops and re-learning everything about shadow puppets.

It feels meaningful that an idea so long in the making is finally being realised. Ideas take time to evolve, but it also takes knowing the right collaborators, the right community to work with, and the right funding available. When all of these things aligned I knew this project could work.

The workshops

Getting back into shadow puppets, I wanted to create a demonstration to inspire the participants at the workshops. Showing the different techniques we can use. I’ve been playing with simple vs complex forms, puppets with moving parts, 3D puppets and inversion (white images on a black background, instead of black on a white background).

I love finding different rhythms in the movement. The puppets can float in and out in a dreamlike way but also dance, chase or stumble. The bold and contrasting images will really suit being projected onto buildings. I can’t wait to see them large scale on the buildings on Verdenspladsen.

To read more about our workshops and how to join, click here.