Entrances And Exists
In his excellent book 'Kids Show Ventriloquism' Mark Wade discusses the 'Dead Time' aspect to crossing the stage and putting on a puppet. He further suggests different ways to cover this, the most important of all being applause. He's right. This time needs to be covered but I will also elaborate upon it here.
The entrance of a puppet character is just as important as the entrance of ANY character to teh stege. When I was at Drama School one of the first things we were taught was how to enter the stage as if you have just COME from somewhere else. At it's core this illustrates ' physical motivation' If the puppet is going to spend 5 or 10 minutes in the comapny of the audience in his or her guise as a living creature then he or she needs to be alive form the very first second.
The American ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is a master of this particular technique. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that puppets need to be 'talking' or 'shouting' at you straight away. As with real live actors (more so in some cases) there is a great deal of comedy to be had of a silent entrance as long as it is motivated and above all animated. Edgar Bergan would move Charlie McCarthy's head so much, this way and that and have him looking around all over the theatre before he reached centre stage. The character needs to be alive form the start.
I watched a video clip of a ventriloquist's first 'adult' gig.
Now, For a vent who is moving form kids parties and giving it a pop in this area is a very nerve racking thing. Trust me I have already done it and continue to practice it weekend in and out. My admiration goes out to anyone who is giving vent a whirl before grown ups. Having said that what really let this guy down at the end of the day was that he either A) did not have a script for the first 1o seconds of his act or B) He forgot it. Ergo the entrance of the puppet was reduced to a fumbling mumbling improvisation which got alot of strange looks and one or two deadly 'smirks' form the audience.
The puppet needs to make a real spalsh!!!! Trust me. learn the lines, it's very important to have a script. Learn the lines and make that puppet turn waves as soon as he is seen coming out of the case.
The exits need to be equally orchestreted. just do what I said a second ago but in reverse.
The puppet should leave the stage to applause. Treat him like a spectator or even better a special guest. Something like this " Give it up for fetch The Dog!!!!" As they give it up put him away. Don't wait for the applause to die down and then put him away. Unless you make him say "Now take your hand out of my ass puppet boy" as he goes into the case.
The entrance of a puppet character is just as important as the entrance of ANY character to teh stege. When I was at Drama School one of the first things we were taught was how to enter the stage as if you have just COME from somewhere else. At it's core this illustrates ' physical motivation' If the puppet is going to spend 5 or 10 minutes in the comapny of the audience in his or her guise as a living creature then he or she needs to be alive form the very first second.
The American ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is a master of this particular technique. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that puppets need to be 'talking' or 'shouting' at you straight away. As with real live actors (more so in some cases) there is a great deal of comedy to be had of a silent entrance as long as it is motivated and above all animated. Edgar Bergan would move Charlie McCarthy's head so much, this way and that and have him looking around all over the theatre before he reached centre stage. The character needs to be alive form the start.
I watched a video clip of a ventriloquist's first 'adult' gig.
Now, For a vent who is moving form kids parties and giving it a pop in this area is a very nerve racking thing. Trust me I have already done it and continue to practice it weekend in and out. My admiration goes out to anyone who is giving vent a whirl before grown ups. Having said that what really let this guy down at the end of the day was that he either A) did not have a script for the first 1o seconds of his act or B) He forgot it. Ergo the entrance of the puppet was reduced to a fumbling mumbling improvisation which got alot of strange looks and one or two deadly 'smirks' form the audience.
The puppet needs to make a real spalsh!!!! Trust me. learn the lines, it's very important to have a script. Learn the lines and make that puppet turn waves as soon as he is seen coming out of the case.
The exits need to be equally orchestreted. just do what I said a second ago but in reverse.
The puppet should leave the stage to applause. Treat him like a spectator or even better a special guest. Something like this " Give it up for fetch The Dog!!!!" As they give it up put him away. Don't wait for the applause to die down and then put him away. Unless you make him say "Now take your hand out of my ass puppet boy" as he goes into the case.
posted by Dean Atkinson at
5:36 PM
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