Anyone have experience building or performing toy theatre? The desire to delve into this form of puppetry has been growing since last year, when I caught an extraordinary evening's performance by Great Small Works www.greatsmallworks.org and thought that it would be a perfect addition to my own troupe's bag of tricks.
We were offered site specific gig, for which adding a toy theatre would be ideal. So, I have to stop dreaming and start building. The plan is to build it inside of a suitcase for convenience of transportation.
So far the only book on the practical aspects of toy theatre that I have found is "Theatre on a Tabletop: Puppetry for Small Spaces" by Kuang-Yu Fong & Stephen Kaplin. Anyone have suggestions? Ideas?
P.S. For those of you unfamliar with toy theatre, it was a popular home entertainment of the 19th century: essentially a cardboard replica of a proscenium theatre that would sit in the parlor. A family would amuse itself by staging popular plays of the day using cardboard cutouts.
We were offered site specific gig, for which adding a toy theatre would be ideal. So, I have to stop dreaming and start building. The plan is to build it inside of a suitcase for convenience of transportation.
So far the only book on the practical aspects of toy theatre that I have found is "Theatre on a Tabletop: Puppetry for Small Spaces" by Kuang-Yu Fong & Stephen Kaplin. Anyone have suggestions? Ideas?
P.S. For those of you unfamliar with toy theatre, it was a popular home entertainment of the 19th century: essentially a cardboard replica of a proscenium theatre that would sit in the parlor. A family would amuse itself by staging popular plays of the day using cardboard cutouts.
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Boston
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Wed, December 21, 2005 - 7:00 PMHI
I love toy theaters and am going nuts making the time to create them and write scripts. I just started making them and have lots to learn but each one is better. I've been getting ideas from the paper constructions in supermarkets. -
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Wed, December 21, 2005 - 8:06 PMI made a toy theatre some years ago, after seeing one of the Toy Theatre Festivals (in NYC, which Great Small Works is part of - I think they have been the organizers). I basically used a paper proscenium arch - which was part of a kit they sold at the fest - glued it to a cardboard stage (which had been a fed ex box), made back drops & set pieces & the characters out of photocopies.
Since you want to do it in a suitcase, I would suggest getting some pop-up books, and possibly using those as templates.
Good luck. -
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Fri, December 23, 2005 - 8:14 AMI ended up having to build a toy theatre from my own imagination. My troupe, which is primarily a mime troupe was invited to appear on a community access television program-- but when I saw how tiny the studio was, I realized that this was the time to build the toy theatre. We used cardboard cutouts of ourselves
I used 1/4" basswood rods for the construction of the theatre-- the flats and the proscenium are fit into slots that I have built into the suitcase. The advantage is that, unlike a lot of toy theatres I have seen, it is easily restaged for different productions like traditional theatres. The wood gives great stability to the cardstock or papier-mâché-- basswood also has the advantage of allowing for precision work using only a utility blade.
I've learned a lot about basic principles of carpentry and set design, but I still have to figure out how to do lighting inside the suitcase.
I'm actually working on building the sets for a more ambitious project for my suitcase theatre. -
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Sat, December 24, 2005 - 9:47 AMSounds very cool. Share some photos? -
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Sat, December 24, 2005 - 2:44 PM> Share some photos?
It's not yet done.
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internet toy theater resources
Fri, February 3, 2006 - 12:09 AMToy Theater
Origami in King Arthur's Court by Lew Rozelle, Small Stage Sets on Tour by James Hull Miller, How to make Super Pop- Ups by Joan Irvine, and Puppets, Jumping Jacks and Other Paper People by Michael Grater.
Some Useful Books
I've just received a copy of Table Theatres by Arthur Gardner. Not devoted to the classical TT but it is loaded with ideas and information about table top theaters in general. This was originally published in UK but a US edition can be obtained from Toy Theatre Company, 12401 Cambridge blvd., Ocean Springs. MS 39564.
1 can also vouch for two relatively recent books, both from UK. I got my copies from Ray DaSilva, 63 Kennedy Road, Bicester, OX6 8BE, UK.
Poulter, Robert Model Theatre, An Easy Step-by-step Guide on How to Make Your Own Theatres & Productions, Natl. Council for Educational Technology,1993 ( ISBN 1 85379 249 7)
Wright, Lyndie Toy Theatres, a step-by-step introduction, Franklin Watts,1993 ( ISBN 0 7496 1473 0)
www.ruislip26.freeserve.co.uk/ toy theater plan
toy theater history vestpocket.info/
Peter Jackson’s Elizabethan theater at The Toy Theatre Company (12401 Cambridge Blvd., Ocean Springs, MS 39564
toytheatre.info/Exhibits/l...1/lynn.html classic old and reprint toy theaters.toytheatre.info/Network/ONeil/More.htm print these and make jumping jacks
www.ruislip26.freeserve.co.uk/ a simple plan for a paper theater, print out and cut.
toytheatre.info/Exhibits/P...on/0241.jpg an easy one to build --
Robert Gluckson
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Mon, May 29, 2006 - 12:09 PMI'm just starting to learn, but you can take a peak at pennyplain.blogspot.com and see what I've been up to. I also have a toy theatre history site at pollocks.trishymouse.net -
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Thu, July 26, 2007 - 1:16 AMI just saw my first Clare Dolan "toy theatre" piece at Puppet Rampage.
I was so moved to tears.....it was a bit embarrasing : )
Her depiction of the impacts of war was stunning, and so passionately told.
If you get a chance to see her......I recommend it.
She's from Vermont. And I couldn't find a web page about her. -
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Fri, July 27, 2007 - 10:09 AMDid you know....
You can create some good music with toys.
There was a band around here called toychestra.
You get the idea? -
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Sat, July 28, 2007 - 8:26 PMSome years back I remember a group in Boston called "Rock, Paper, Scissors" that used electronic games that were all the rage in the early 1980s as instruments.
There was also a small movement of composers and concert pianists who were creating works for toy pianos-- supposedly, the toy piano required pianists to even further refine their attack on the keys. -
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Re: Toy Theatre?
Sun, July 29, 2007 - 9:31 AMI saw some elec.music bands using gameboys.
It might be funny to improv with the music of an actual game being played.
Or using a vid projector, use the graphics as a backdrop.
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