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Wow. This is so cool. I just want to know how they did a lot of the animal shadow work. I think a lot of theater today overlooks the use of shadow puppetry, but it's awesome to see a theater group pushing the frontiers of this medium.
Readers may recognize the Pilobolus troupe from their performance at the Academy Awards a few years back in which they built the visages of several movies of that year through body structures (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiX-DW8Qk4w). Shadowplay is a fascinating medium to play with perspective and form. I'm reminded of a production of "Peter Pan" I did with current CMU Grad 1 director Josh Gelb. It used the Jolly Roger's sails as screens for shadowplay and acted as a lens for the audience to see a personification of J.M. Barrie's extensive stage directions. The use allowed us to highlight his contributions to the script which are normally never heard or seen by an audience of the play in its traditional form. It was a tremendously successful and brilliant production.
The scale here is really interesting to me: the contrast between the woman turned pet and the master figure, who is physically imposing upon her and controlling her, is very striking. The shadows aid in this, the sharp angles of the dog's ears against the fluidity of the master's fingers shaping his pet's form, and do so well for the troupe's creativity.
I hope to see more shadow work in the theatre world--Boing Boing has actually been highlighting posts about shadow art wherein what appears to be junk lying on the floor, when struck at the right angle with light, creates shadows that look like human figures. Very interesting stuff.
I believe that shadows are way under-used in theatre. While we use backlight to put a figure in shadow, the use of complete shadow bring an amazing power and mystery to the work. For one thing, things can be done through shadows that would be completely impossible with characters/objects in full view. As Doc always says, most of good theatre happens in the viewers head, by just showing shadows, the audience is able to create the situation and it will always be more effective than any effect done onstage. [Why does Oedipus stab his eyes out offstage?]
5 comments:
Wow. This is so cool. I just want to know how they did a lot of the animal shadow work. I think a lot of theater today overlooks the use of shadow puppetry, but it's awesome to see a theater group pushing the frontiers of this medium.
Readers may recognize the Pilobolus troupe from their performance at the Academy Awards a few years back in which they built the visages of several movies of that year through body structures (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiX-DW8Qk4w). Shadowplay is a fascinating medium to play with perspective and form. I'm reminded of a production of "Peter Pan" I did with current CMU Grad 1 director Josh Gelb. It used the Jolly Roger's sails as screens for shadowplay and acted as a lens for the audience to see a personification of J.M. Barrie's extensive stage directions. The use allowed us to highlight his contributions to the script which are normally never heard or seen by an audience of the play in its traditional form. It was a tremendously successful and brilliant production.
The scale here is really interesting to me: the contrast between the woman turned pet and the master figure, who is physically imposing upon her and controlling her, is very striking. The shadows aid in this, the sharp angles of the dog's ears against the fluidity of the master's fingers shaping his pet's form, and do so well for the troupe's creativity.
I hope to see more shadow work in the theatre world--Boing Boing has actually been highlighting posts about shadow art wherein what appears to be junk lying on the floor, when struck at the right angle with light, creates shadows that look like human figures. Very interesting stuff.
I believe that shadows are way under-used in theatre. While we use backlight to put a figure in shadow, the use of complete shadow bring an amazing power and mystery to the work. For one thing, things can be done through shadows that would be completely impossible with characters/objects in full view. As Doc always says, most of good theatre happens in the viewers head, by just showing shadows, the audience is able to create the situation and it will always be more effective than any effect done onstage. [Why does Oedipus stab his eyes out offstage?]
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