'Sacred Space'

'Sacred Space' explores the ephemeral nature of gender and the many issues and preconceptions surrounding gender conditioning, sexuality and feminism through a combination of interviews with real people and a fusion of puppetry and visual theatre. By engaging with the ancient roots of theatre and religion in dramatic rites and rituals, the performance will take the audience into a sacred space and there confront fears and explore prejudices.

The opening image from 'Sacred Space'

'The first thing that happens when you're born, is that people ask "is it a girl or a boy" and that immediately comes with a lot of connotations.

The puppeteer interacts with the child, manipulating where the child moves on stage

'I was certainly brought up being given a certain blue print, I can still feel that imprint on me'

A character created from plastic bags with a wooden skeleton

The puppet gazes into the mirror, despite not having any eyes. She reflects on her appearance

Rope man

Here i created a table top style puppet which appears to the audience to made entirely of rope. 

 ‘Like the cord and all bonds, the rope both binds and limits yet provides the possibility of infinite extension and freedom; it can give access to heaven and is associated with rites of passage, hence with the ladder, bridge, tree etc.’

Below are a series of photos explaining how this puppet was created

The legs are made from a combination of plastic piping and guttering. Elastic is used to counter balance the feet and also in the hips to allow maximum flexibility.

The hands are made using a basic template as they will be covered in rope there is no need to carve them. Here also a counter balance elastic is used to allow the hand mechanism to move the hand forward and backwards.

The process of covering the puppet in rope took a number of hours. I used four different sizes of natural rope, sash cord and pieces cut from a mop head and dyed with fabric dye.