The Amazing Puppetry of Warhorse

The National Theatre's Warhorse features stunning puppetry by South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company.

The puppetry of Warhorse - a runaway hit currently playing in London's West End - is absolutely stunning (you can watch a video here). As longtime PuppetVision readers already know, I love this sort of very realistic, highly technical puppetry and I dare anyone to say they're not impressed by what South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company has accomplished with this show.

Special thanks to Dave H. in the UK for sending this in!

Cashore Marionette Videos

Life in Motion and Simple Gifts show off the incredible work of the Cashore Marionettes.

For a long time I didn't care much for marionettes. It wasn't that I ever thought there was anything wrong with string puppets per se, it was just that I've always been a big fan of very precise, technical and realistic puppetry and until several years ago I hadn't seen much marionette work that was really impressive.

Thankfully, I was eventually exposed to the work of people like Basil Twist (see previous post) and Joseph Cashore that took away my ignorance. I'm a particularly big fan of the Cashore Marionettes. There really is no substitute for seeing them live, but for those that haven't yet had the pleasure they have a couple of new-ish videos - Life in Motion and Simple Gifts - that give you a taste of their amazing work.

Kanye West's Creature

Kanye West's recent Glow In The Dark tour featured a giant animatronic creature built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Remember that big animatronic puppet that Jim Henson's Creature Shop was building for Kanye West last year? Well, Sean - who along with his brother Patrick was part of the team that built the monster - sent in some links to some amateur video from one of Kanye's concerts on YouTube.

The monster was apparently made out of foam and fiberglass, built on a carbon fiber spine and covered with hand-stitched fabric. The quality of the videos (which you can watch here and here) aren't great, but the effect looks spectacular!

Walk Like A Christian

The puppeteers of Stuff-N-Foam perform at a Church fund-raiser in April, 2008.

I haven't featured any Christian puppetry here on PuppetVision for quite awhile, so what the heck...here's a video of a group called Stuff-N-Foam lip syncing to Walk Like a Christian. Excessive hair twirling notwithstanding, it's not bad.

And how can you not love a group that calls itself Stuff-N-Foam?

L.A. Weekly Talks to Brian Henson

Brian Henson spoke with L.A. Weekly about the Jim Henson Company's improv puppet work.

L.A. Weekly recently sat down for a chat with Brian Henson. In the interview Brian talks about Puppet Up! Uncensored, which has one of its monthly shows at Avalon Hollywood in L.A. tomorrow night at 8 p.m.

Via Tough Pigs.

Space Ghost with Puppets

Baltimore's Annex Theater performs a "live episode" of the cult classic cartoon Space Ghost.

Check out this video of Baltimore's Annex Theater performing an episode of the cult classic cartoon Space Ghost live on stage with puppets (you can watch the original episode for reference purposes here). Just watch out for Dr. Nightmare and his army of Nightmare Creatures...

Via Urlesque.

50 ft Robo Spider Loose in UK

Some unconventional street theatre is being created with a giant animatronic spider in the UK.

Take a look at CNN's report of the incredible 50 ft spider that's currently on the loose in England. Don't worry, there hasn't been an invasion of giant radioactive insects (yet) it's just an elaborate piece of free street theatre that's happening this weekend in Bristol, UK. The "Robo-Spider" requires 12 operators and reportedly cost about $1.8 million to build.

Kind of makes you want your own giant animatronic robot, doesn't it?

07/09/08 Update: I forgot to mention that the people behind this are La Machine (some of the same folks who created The Sultan's Elephant).

The Amazing Acro-ba-chicks

Highly trained chick rod puppets perform fantastic acts of daring-do.

And now for your entertainment and amusement...the Amazing Acro-ba-chicks.

Karen Prell Live at Comicon

Karen Prell and her famous alter-ego Red Fraggle at Comicon `08 (photo by Flickr user Propologist).

One of the things that I missed while I wasn't posting was that the amazing Karen Prell was at the recent Comicon in San Diego where she entertained Fraggle Rock fans by performing Red Fraggle and leading the audience in a couple songs. Mike has posted some great pictures of the Fraggle Rock Comicon panel on Flickr and you can watch three fan-made videos of the event are available below:







Via Puppeteers Unite.

Basil Twist Video

"Stickman"; a marionette created by acclaimed American puppeteer Basil Twist.

There is a great video about Basil Twist available from United States Artists (a grant-making organization dedicated to supporting American artists in a variety of different fields). If you're not familiar with Basil's work, he's an acclaimed third-generation puppeteer based in New York who produces truly beautiful, innovative and original puppet theatre. In the video Basil discusses his recent production Dogugaeshi and his views on why puppetry is so appealing to so many people.

9/4/09 Update: The link to the video has been updated.

Terry Fator: Puppetry's $100 Million Man

Ventriloquist Terry Fator and Winston the Impersonating Turtle.

Terry Fator - the amazingly talented Ventriloquist/impressionist who won the reality TV series/talent show America's Got Talent last year (see previous post) - has just signed a deal that's reportedly worth $100 million over the next five years. Terry will be performing nightly at The Mirage Casino and Resort in Las Vegas in a theatre that will be named after him. The deal is reported to include an optional extension of another five years, which makes the entire deal worth over $200 million. That's two hundred million dollars. Not too shabby for a puppeteer who not so long ago was playing half-empty shows at county fairs.

Terry recently appeared on Oprah with Simon Cowell, who called him "two of the most talented people on the planet. You can catch him on TV again tonight; he's scheduled to perform as a guest on The Late Show With David Letterman.

A Worm Circus

A performance of Worm Circus from last year's Orlando Puppet Festival.

Check out these edited clips from Worm Circus from last fall's Orlando Puppet Festival. Puppet "circus shows" with bricks, fleas, tin cans and other odd creatures and objects are a very old idea, but it looks like this show puts a fresh, entertaining spin on the idea. Two of the puppeteers featured are Tom Blasco and Jonathan West.

Hobey Ford's New Web Site

Innovative puppeteer Hobey Ford performs one of his incredible rod puppets.

Hobey Ford (see previous post) is building a new site at www.hobeyford.com. Hobey is the inventor of the ever-popular "Peepers" puppets and his live shows feature some of the most graceful and beautiful puppetry I have ever seen. Check out his work from Animalia, Turtle Island Tales and an early test for a new video he's working on called Whale Walker.

Who Am I Casting Crowns: Good Christian Puppetry

Who Am I Casting Crowns is an impressive example of Christian puppetry from Norway.

Who Am I Casting Crowns performed by a United Pentecostal Church youth group from Oslo, Norway is a really nice example of Christian puppetry and how to use black light effectively. It's been viewed over 2 million times, which has got to make it one of the most popular puppetry videos on YouTube ever. A higher resolution video that includes a five minute introduction here.

Thanks to Amy Beth for pointing this out!

Johnny and the Sprites on Broadway

John Tartaglia and the puppet stars of Johnny and the Sprites are raising money for Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS with a special live performance.

The Johnny and the Sprites (see previous post) is coming to Broadway! John Tartaglia and the puppet characters (and their puppeteers) from the hit Playhouse Disney kids' show are taking the stage Sunday February 3rd for a special live performance to benefit Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS. A meet and greet with John is planned for after the show so fans can take pictures and get autographs too. If you're in or near New York and have children (or know someone who does) this sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon on Broadway and help raise money for a good cause. For tickets and more information visit www.broadwaycares.org or call (212) 840-0770 ext. 268.

Thanks to Jamie for sending this in!

Sinilos Productions

Spain's Sinilos Productions produces bright and colourful puppetry for kids.

Sinilos Productions is a puppetry company in Spain that performs live puppet shows for children. They have several videos of their work on YouTube and are also working on a TV pilot. I really like their work, the puppets are bright, colourful and well designed and they use an interesting mix of puppetry styles in their show. Have a look and see for yourself.

Coke Bear

This full-body polar bear puppet costume is a mascot for Coca-Cola.

There are some short videos on YouTube here and here of a neat full body bear polar puppet. The bear is of course one of the famous Coca-Cola polar bears and is apparently the mascot of The World of Coca-Cola, a new permanent exhibit dedicated to the history of The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta.

Thanks to Jon for sending in these links!

Update: James wrote in to say that the Coke Bears (apparently there is more than one) are built by the New York Muppet Workshop, who also maintain and repair them. They also train the performers who perform in the suits.