| Handspring Puppet Company | |
| Type: | Puppetry performance and scenic design |
| Foundation: | 5 February 1981 |
| Founder: | Adrian Kohler, Basil Jones, Jon Weinberg and Jill Joubert |
| Location Country: | South Africa |
| Location: | Cape Town |
| Key People: | Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones |
The Handspring Puppet Company is a South African puppetry performance and design company. It was established in 1981 by Adrian Kohler, Basil Jones, Jon Weinberg, and Jill Joubert, and is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Jones and Kohler met at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town.[1] At first, they designed puppets for children-targeted productions, which Jones initially disliked. Kohler "introduced him [Jones] to the West African tradition of puppetry for adults,"[2] working with Malcolm Purkey and Barney Simon, among others.[3]
Some notable productions include:
Esther van Ryswyk directed Episodes of an Easter Rising (1985), a play based on David Lytton's radio special of the same name.[4] It told the story of two white lesbian women who became part of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle. It premiered at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town and toured to the National Arts Festival in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), WITS University Theatre in Johannesburg and to the 7th World Festival of Puppet Theatre in Charleville-Mézières, France.
In 1997, they worked with William Kentridge (director) and Jane Taylor (scriptwriter) on Ubu and the Truth Commission. The play draws extensively on Alfred Jarry's absurdist production Ubu Roi (1896). It fuses the chaos of the Ubu legend with original testimony from witnesses at the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It highlights Kentridge's work in the evolution of truth through a combination of fictional narratives and facts.[5] The production premiered in Weimer, Germany on 17 June 1997. Over the next two years, it toured to 38 theatres in South Africa, Europe and the USA.[6]
Tall Horse (directed by Marthinus Basson in 2004) was a collaboration between the Sogolon Puppet Troupe of Mali and Handspring Puppet Company. The production was based on historical events: in 1827 the Pasha of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, sent a giraffe as a gift to King Charles X of France. The play dramatised the giraffe's journey across the Mediterranean Sea and the politics underlying it. With initial funding from the John F. Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C, Tall Horse was also supported by Anglo Gold Ashanti, a mining company with interests in both Mali and South Africa.[7]
The Handspring Puppet Company achieved critical acclaim when War Horse featuring life-size puppets they had created, premiered at the Royal National Theatre in South Bank, London, on 17 October 2007.[8] Kohler and Jones worked with directors Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris and choreographer Toby Sedgwick[9] to design and construct life-sized horse puppets, each controlled by three actors. Two actors operate the legs and a third controls the head and neck, with all three actors providing a variety of sound effects.[10] The company won an Olivier Award, Evening Standard Theatre Award and London Critics' Circle Theatre Award.[11] [12] [13] The show transferred to the West End on 28 March 2009,[14] and on 15 March 2011, it premiered on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City.[15] The play has been performed globally to nearly eight million people worldwide.[16]
The company collaborated with Neil Bartlett and Rae Smith on Or You Could Kiss Me, which opened at London's National Theatre on 5 October 2010, for a six-week season. The show has been described as "an intimate history of two very private lives, lived in extraordinary times". It was loosely based on the lives of Kohler and Jones, and speculated on their future circumstances when both men reach the age of 85.[17]
Best Design (Rae Smith and the Handspring Puppet Company, winner)
2007 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards
Best Designer (Basil Jones, Adrian Kohler, Rae Smith and the Handspring Puppet Company, winner)
Best Set Design (Rae Smith, Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, winner)
Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones won the Special Tony Award for War Horse.
2011 Outer Critics Circle Awards
Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award for "Puppet Design, Fabrication and Direction for War Horse"[21] [22]
2012 – Honorary Doctorate of Literature Kohler and Jones both received an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.[23]
2018 – John F. Kennedy Gold Medal Kohler and Jones received the John F. Kennedy Gold Medal in the Arts from the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts at a ceremony held at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa.[24]
| Episodes of an Easter Rising | 1985 | South Africa | Cape Town, Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), Johannesburg | ||
| France | Charleville-Mézières | ||||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | 1988–1989 | South Africa | Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Makhanda, Johannesburg | ||
| Carnival of the Bear | 1988 | South Africa | Johannesburg | ||
| Tooth and Nail | 1989 | South Africa | Johannesburg | ||
| Starbrites | 1990–91 | South Africa | Johannesburg | ||
| United Kingdom | Cambridge, Oxford, Birmingham, Nottingham, London | ||||
| Ireland | Dublin | ||||
| Denmark | Copenhagen | ||||
| Woyzeck on the Highveld | 1992–2009 | South Africa | Makhanda, Johannesburg, Cape Town | ||
| Germany | Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Bochum, Braunschweig, Berlin | ||||
| Belgium | Antwerp, Brussels | ||||
| Switzerland | Fribourg, Basel, Zurich | ||||
| United Kingdom | Leeds, Glasgow | ||||
| Canada | Toronto | ||||
| Spain | Granada, Girona | ||||
| Sweden | Göteborg | ||||
| USA | New York, Chicago | ||||
| China | Hong Kong | ||||
| Australia | Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane | ||||
| New Zealand | Wellington | ||||
| Colombia | Bogotá | ||||
| Israel | Jerusalem | ||||
| France | Avignon, Paris, Châlons | ||||
| Norway | Stavanger | ||||
| Italy | Rome | ||||
| Poland | Wroclaw | ||||
| Faustus in Africa | 1995–1997 | Germany | Weimar, Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich, Hannover, Remscheid, Gütersloh, Erlangen, Bochum, Ellwangen, Hamburg, Strasbourg | ||
| South Africa | Makhanda, Johannesburg | ||||
| Switzerland | Zurich, Basel | ||||
| Czech Republic | Prague | ||||
| United Kingdom | London | ||||
| Portugal | Lisbon | ||||
| Australia | Adelaide | ||||
| Belgium | Brussels | ||||
| France | Dijon, Avignon, Marseilles, Tarbes, Toulouse, Paris, Sochaux, Bourg—en-Bresse, Chambéry | ||||
| Israel | Jerusalem | ||||
| Denmark | Copenhagen | ||||
| Austria | St. Pölten | ||||
| Italy | Polverigi, Rome | ||||
| Spain | Seville | ||||
| USA | Washington, Chicago, Springfield, Northampton | ||||
| Ubu and the Truth Commission | 1997–1999 | Germany | Weimar, Hannover, Ludwigsburg, Erlangen, Munich, Wiesbaden | ||
| South Africa | Makhanda, Johannesburg, Stellenbosch | ||||
| France | Avignon, Rungis, Nantes, Dijon, Toulouse, Paris, Lannion, Saint-Brieuc, Vannes, Quimper, Amiens | ||||
| Switzerland | Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Neuchâtel | ||||
| Norway | Kristiansand | ||||
| USA | New York, Washington, Los Angeles | ||||
| Belgium | Antwerp | ||||
| Sweden | Stockholm, Göteborg | ||||
| Denmark | Copenhagen, Randers | ||||
| Czech Republic | Prague | ||||
| Italy | Rome, Reggio Emilia | ||||
| Netherlands | Rotterdam | ||||
| Réunion Island | Saint-Denis | ||||
| United Kingdom | London | ||||
| Il Ritorno d'Ulisse | 1998–2023 | Belgium | Brussels | ||
| Austria | Vienna | ||||
| Germany | Berlin, Potsdam | ||||
| Netherlands | Amsterdam | ||||
| Switzerland | Zurich | ||||
| South Africa | Makhanda, Pretoria | ||||
| Portugal | Lisbon | ||||
| USA | New York, Seattle, San Francisco | ||||
| France | Caen, Besançon, Nîmes, Toulouse, Lyon, Vichy, Versailles | ||||
| Luxembourg | Luxembourg | ||||
| Australia | Melbourne | ||||
| Italy | Venice, Palermo | ||||
| Spain | Girona | ||||
| United Kingdom | Edinburgh | ||||
| South Korea | Gwangju | ||||
| China | Hong Kong | ||||
| The Chimp Project | 2000 | Germany | Hannover, Recklinghausen, Weimar, Munich, Nuremberg | ||
| South Africa | Makhanda, Johannesburg, Cape Town | ||||
| Switzerland | Basel | ||||
| France | Paris | ||||
| Réunion Island | Saint-Denis | ||||
| Zeno at 4 am | 2001 | Belgium | Brussels | ||
| France | Paris, Angoulême, Toulouse, Amiens | ||||
| USA | Minneapolis, Chicago, New York | ||||
| Confessions of Zeno | 2002–2003 | Belgium | Brussels | ||
| Germany | Kassel, Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg | ||||
| Croatia | Zagreb | ||||
| South Africa | Makhanda, Stellenbosch | ||||
| Italy | Rome | ||||
| Spain | Salamanca | ||||
| France | Paris, Caen, Angoulême | ||||
| Singapore | Singapore | ||||
| Canary Islands | Las Palmas | ||||
| Portugal | Lisbon | ||||
| Spain | Vitoria | ||||
| Tall Horse | 2007–2009 | South Africa | Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg | ||
| Germany | Stuttgart | ||||
| USA | Williamstown, New York, Pittsburgh, Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, Washington DC | ||||
| War Horse (play)[25] | National Theatre Production | 2009-2016 | United Kingdom | London | |
| West End Production | 2011–2013 | United Kingdom | London | ||
| Broadway Production | 2012–2013 | USA | New York | ||
| Toronto Production | 2012–2014 | Canada | Toronto | ||
| US National Tour | 2012–2014 | USA/ Japan | Launched in Los Angeles, it toured 29 cities, ending in Tokyo, Japan | ||
| Australian Tour | 2013–2014 | Australia | Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane | ||
| First UK National Tour | 2013–2014 | United Kingdom | Plymouth, Birmingham, Salford Quays, Edinburgh, Southampton, Dublin, Sunderland, Cardiff | ||
| Berlin, Germany | 2014–2015 | Germany | Berlin | ||
| Netherlands | 2014–2015 | Netherlands | Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Breda, Groningen, Apeldoorn and Heerlen | ||
| South Africa | 2015–16 | South Africa | Johannesburg, Cape Town | ||
| China | 2017–present | Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Heilongjiang Tianjin. | |||
| 10th Anniversary Tour | 2017–present | China | Canterbury, Bristol, Liverpool, Oxford, Brighton , Bradford, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Southampton, Salford, Cardiff , Woking, Plymouth, Milton Keynes, Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Sunderland , Stoke-on-Trent, Dublin, Liverpool, Leicester, London[26] | ||
| Or You Could Kiss Me | 2010 | United Kingdom | London | ||
| Little Amal, The Walk | 2021 | Europe and United Kingdom | 65 towns and cities in Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and United Kingdom.[27] | ||
playbill.com, 26 April 2011