This concept came to life due to a little girl turning one. Daisy's first birthday was fast approaching and head of LSP Caroline Astell-Burt (also Daisy's grandmother) set me the task of creating a little show to perform. Collaborating with Caroline, Rabbit went from rehearsal to performance in little more than two days! We wrote the story together, calling on some of Daisy's favorite books for inspiration... one of these was The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar, a book I also loved as a child (and still do in fact!).
From here we moved into prop construction, well... Caroline did. I had my hands full developing another glove show for my glove module assessment (that's a whole other blog post!). Some of the props used in the show are real vegetables, but some needed specific functions eg, the red capsicum he decides to wear as a hat! (see gallery for photos) Caroline also adapted an old glove puppet she had tucked away into this absolutely adorable little character. Everyone who meets him falls in love immediately... including me!
I was very nervous going in to Daisy's party, I felt incredibly under prepared. However the show went well, the children enjoyed it and the experience acted as a spring board for the show to become something much stronger. I got some incredibly helpful feedback from my audience. Ronnie Le Drew was among the spectators and observed that I talk way too much and don't give the audience time to enjoy the puppet. This is something I have become much more aware of here at LSP, especially during my glove module. My need to talk all the time is something I am determined to conquer and so in my ongoing rehearsals of Rabbit I decided to be silent.
This idea yielded fantastic results, I am much less present in the piece which is great and I am learning to channel my energy in to the puppet instead of my own face (very unnatural for me!). I am feeling very confident about the show and how it has developed. It has come so far in the few weeks since Daisy's party and will be performed at the Skipton Puppet Festival this weekend! I am very eager to see how it is received!
This is a show that is perfect for a young child's birthday party and also really lends itself to festivals, packing down easily in to a small suitcase. I am hoping to be able to bring the idea home to Australia when I return late next year. I really enjoy performing this show and hope I will have a long and prosperous relationship with "Rabbit's Special Tea"
See gallery for more photos.
http://www.skiptonpuppetfestival.co.uk/