Olive Blackham Explained

Olive Blackham
Birth Name:Olive Dingle Blackham
Birth Date:15 February 1899
Birth Place:West Bromwich, Staffordshire
Death Place:Malvern, Worcestershire
Occupation:Puppeteer
Relatives:Harold Blackham, brother

Olive Blackham (1899–2002) was a British puppeteer. She was the director of the experimental Roel Puppets theatre company, author of Shadow Puppets (1961) and “one of the leading authorities on all forms of puppetry”.[1] In 1948 she was one of the first puppeteers to appear on television, in a broadcast from Alexandra Palace.[2]

Personal life

Blackham was born in West Bromwich to Harriet and Walter Blackham. She was the oldest of four siblings. A brother was the philosopher Harold John Blackham. Blackham attended King Edward's School, Birmingham,[3] after which she worked for a bank in Birmingham.[4] In 1932 she moved to Roel Farm, Cheltenham where she established the Roel Puppets theatre company. During WWII she worked at Lloyd's Bank in Montpellier.[5]

In the mid-1960s she retired to Cheltenham. After donating her puppets to several museums, she turned her attention to weaving.[6] She died at the Sherborne Tower Care Centre, aged 103. In lieu of flowers, donations were made to the Puppet Centre Trust.[7]

Puppetry career

While working as a bank clerk in the early 1930s, Blackham read a book on puppetry and was inspired to put on a “little show on the dining-room table” for her family. The following year her brother built her a stage, which focused her interest. Eventually “so many friends came to see her puppet, that [she] took a loft over a stable in Kings Heath” in 1927, which became a small experimental theatre, The Ark. The name was inspired by the stable's appearance, its entrance being up a ladder and through a trap door.[8]

The Ark

Blackham ran The Ark with a group of friends, including Bernard Griffin, Gerald Shaw and Frances Norris.[9] Blackham wrote the plays, designed the sets and made the costumes.[10] Of The Ark she said,

"It is not run merely to entertain. It is a puppet theatre workshop where we can experiment in every form of theatre activity in miniature. It is the outcome of a revolt against the cramping conditions the modern playwrights have imposed upon theatre and against the spiritual weariness their fare induces. We are experimenting with puppets in the belief that they can lead the way to a more beautiful and satisfying theatre."[11]

The Ark ran from 1927 to 1932, at which point she decided to give up her job and make puppets her career.[12]

Roel Puppets Theatre

With money she had saved from her work, she moved to the Cotswolds in 1932 and bought a granary belonging to Roel Farm in Guiting Power where she established the Roel Puppets theatre company. Active until 1961, it put on performances each spring and summer, and toured during autumn and winter, playing at theatres, colleges and private houses.[13]

Between 1936 and 1958 Blackham would run an annual summer school[14] where participants would create their own puppets and visit the nearby Lanchester Marionettes Theatre in Malvern.[15] The Roel Puppets’ patron was Sir Barry Jackson. Her long-time assistant was Amina Chatwin.[16] [17] Other puppeteers who worked in the company included: Mary Morley, Joyce Blackham, Gray Skipworth and Robert Tronson.[18] [19] [20]

In 1937 Roel Puppets were chosen by the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild to represent British puppet theatre at the 1937 Paris Exhibition.[21] [22] In 1939 the theatre historian George Speaight worked with her to learn the art of puppetry.[23] [24]

Experimental ideas

Blackham “tested the possibilities of the marionette as an art form”.[25] Her experimental ideas included:

World War II

During WWII Blackham toured extensively with a simpler theatre using glove puppets, as it was “impossible to obtain the transport for the complicated mechanism necessary for a string show”.[29] In 1939 some of Blackham's students took puppet-making and manipulation techniques into evacuation camps.[30] In November of the same year the Cannon Hall Museum, Birmingham, which was closed at the outbreak of the war, with all its permanent collection moved to safety, reopened with an “exhibition of theatrical designs and puppets”, including puppets made by Blackham.[31]

Post-World War II

In 1948 the Roel Puppets appeared on a television programme broadcast from Alexandra Palace. Puppet Pie was a 30-minute show featuring Blackham's glove and rod puppets. In the same year she appeared at the Cheltenham Music Festival. In 1950 the Roel Puppets appeared on the BBC show Children’s Newsreel.[32] In 1960 Blackham worked with costume designer and Thunderbirds wardrobe supervisor, Elizabeth Coleman. She also worked with Welsh puppeteer Jane Phillips.[33] In 1966, at the point of her retirement, she became the first British member of the French organisation, Union Internationale de la Marionette (UNIMA).[34]

In 1992 three of her Japanese Noh puppets were exhibited at Cheltenham's Pittville Pump Room alongside many other historical puppets, including the original Muffin the Mule.[35]

Shows

Blackham's output was varied, including contemporary verse plays, farces, burlesques, and satires:

Pre-war productions

Post-war productions

Books

Blackham wrote the following books:

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Blackham, Olive . 1961 . Shadow Puppets . Harper & Brothers . New York, USA . 1.
  2. News: 2002-07-25 . Cheltenham Chronicle . Barbara Moore . Puppet players featured in television . 5 . Cheltenham, UK .
  3. News: 1933-11-25 . Evening Despatch . . A "Despatch" man’s diary . 4 . Birmingham, UK .
  4. News: 1951-09-02 . Birmingham Weekly Mercury . . It all started one Christmas . 4 . Birmingham, UK .
  5. News: 1950-08-12 . Cheltenham Chronicle . . Her show will put ‘The Tempest’ on a string! . 7 . Cheltenham, UK .
  6. Web site: Olive Blackham . Ian Denny . iandenny.co.uk . 2023-12-09.
  7. Web site: TV Puppeteer Olive dies aged 103 . . worcesternews.co.uk . 2023-12-09.
  8. News: 1933-11-25 . Evening Despatch . . A "Despatch" man’s diary . 4 . Birmingham, UK .
  9. Web site: Olive Blackham . . horniman.ac.uk . 2023-12-09.
  10. News: 2002-07-25 . The Stage . . Obituaries . 13 . London, UK .
  11. Web site: Olive Blackham . . horniman.ac.uk . 2023-12-09.
  12. News: 1951-09-02 . Birmingham Weekly Mercury . . It all started one Christmas . 4. Birmingham, UK .
  13. News: 2002-07-25 . Cheltenham Chronicle . Barbara Moore . Puppet players featured in television . 5 . Cheltenham, UK .
  14. News: 1939-06-19 . Gloucestershire Echo . . Puppetry in the Cotswolds . 4 . Gloucester, UK .
  15. News: 1958-02-20 . The Stage . Drama Critic . Roel Puppets Show . 7 . Birmingham, UK .
  16. News: 2002-07-25 . Cheltenham Chronicle . Barbara Moore . Puppet players featured in television . 5 . Cheltenham, UK .
  17. News: 1951-09-01 . Cheltenham Chronicle . . Gave up holidays to learn puppetry in a Cotswold village hall . 3 . Cheltenham, UK .
  18. News: 1934-11-14 . Western Mail . . Puppets almost human . 5 . Cardiff, UK .
  19. News: 1934-11-24 . Gloucester Journal . . The Roel Puppet Theatre . 4 . Gloucester, UK .
  20. News: 1950-03-29 . Banbury Advertiser . . Roel Puppets at the Horton . 3 . Banbury, UK .
  21. Web site: Olive Blackham . . horniman.ac.uk . 2023-12-09.
  22. News: 2002-07-25 . Cheltenham Chronicle . Barbara Moore . Puppet players featured in television . 5 . Cheltenham, UK .
  23. Web site: George and Mary Speaight . Horatio Blood and David Powell . theguardian.com . 2023-12-09.
  24. News: 1939-07-20 . The Era . . Puppets in the Cotswolds . 11 . London, UK .
  25. Book: Binyon, Helen . 1967 . Puppetry today: Designing and making marionettes, glove puppets, rod puppets and shadow puppets . Studio-Vista . London, UK . 15 . 0289368863.
  26. Book: Binyon, Helen . 1967 . Puppetry today: Designing and making marionettes, glove puppets, rod puppets and shadow puppets . Studio-Vista . London, UK . 15 . 0289368863.
  27. Book: Binyon, Helen . 1967 . Puppetry today: Designing and making marionettes, glove puppets, rod puppets and shadow puppets . Studio-Vista . London, UK . 33 . 0289368863.
  28. Book: Hogarth, Ann . 1985 . Fanfare for puppets! A personal and idiosyncratic view of the puppet theatre . David & Charles . Devon, UK . 71 . 0715387235.
  29. News: 2002-07-25 . Cheltenham Chronicle . Barbara Moore . Puppet players featured in television . 5 . Cheltenham, UK .
  30. News: 1939-09-15 . Birmingham Daily Post . . Women’s Interests . Birmingham, UK . 9 .
  31. News: 1939-11-21 . Birmingham Mail . . Cannon Hill Museum . 8. Birmingham, UK .
  32. News: 1950-11-07 . Gloucestershire Echo . . Today’s gossip . 4 . Gloucester, UK .
  33. Book: Philpott, Alexis Robert . 1969 . Dictionary of Puppetry . Macdonald & Co . London, UK . 185 . 0356024407.
  34. Web site: Olive Blackham . . horniman.ac.uk . 2023-12-09.
  35. News: 1992-03-20 . Gloucestshire Echo . . Pulling the strings . 16 . Gloucester, UK .
  36. Book: Binyon, Helen . 1967 . Puppetry today: Designing and making marionettes, glove puppets, rod puppets and shadow puppets . Studio-Vista . London, UK . 15 . 0289368863.
  37. News: 1933-11-30 . Birmingham Daily Gazette . . Charles Trentham’s Puppet Stage . 12 . London, UK .
  38. News: 1933-12-06 . The Ear . The ERA staff . Talking shopw . 3 . London, UK .
  39. News: 1934-11-14 . Western Mail . . Puppets almost human . 5 . Cardiff, UK .
  40. News: 1934-11-24 . Gloucester Journal . . The Roel Puppet Theatre . 4 . Gloucester, UK .
  41. News: 1935-10-31 . Berwick Advertiser . . Coming events . 3 . Berwick, UK .
  42. News: 1936-10-16 . Leicester Evening Mail . Old John . What will Sir John Simon say? . 10 . Leicester, UK .
  43. News: 1936-10-31 . Rochdale Observer . . The Roel Puppets . 22 . Rochdale, UK .
  44. News: 1936-12-31 . The Stage . . Miracle play by marionettes . 18 . London, UK .
  45. News: 1937-01-18 . Liverpool Daily Post . . Puppet performers . 5 . Liverpool, UK .
  46. News: 1939-12-01 . Hertford Mercury and Reformer . . Hertford Heath . 2 . Hertford, UK .
  47. Book: Philpott, Alexis Robert . 1969 . Dictionary of Puppetry . Macdonald & Co . London, UK . 9 . 0356024407.
  48. News: 1934-11-24 . Gloucester Journal . . The Roel Puppet Theatre . 4 . Gloucester, UK .
  49. News: 1935-10-31 . Berwick Advertiser . . Roel Puppets at Berwick . 3 . Berwick, UK .
  50. News: 1935-10-31 . Berwick Advertiser . . Roel Puppets at Berwick . 3 . Berwick, UK .
  51. News: 1934-11-24 . Gloucester Journal . . The Roel Puppet Theatre . 4 . Gloucester, UK .
  52. News: 1951-09-01 . Cheltenham Chronicle . . Gave up holidays to learn puppetry in a Cotswold village hall . 3. Cheltenham, UK .
  53. Book: Hogarth, Ann . 1985 . Fanfare for puppets! A personal and idiosyncratic view of the puppet theatre . David & Charles . Devon, UK . 70.
  54. News: 1936-10-31 . Rochdale Observer . . The Roel Puppet Theatre . 22 . Rochdale, UK .
  55. Book: Sorell, Walter . 1973 . The Other Face: The Mask in the Arts . Bobbs-Merrill . New York, USA . 99 . 0500231974.
  56. News: 1936-10-31 . Rochdale Observer . . The Roel Puppet Theatre . 22 . Rochdale, UK .
  57. News: 1933-11-25 . Evening Despatch . . A "Despatch" man’s diary . 4 . Birmingham, UK .
  58. News: 1950-08-12 . Cheltenham Chronicle . . Her show willput "The Tempest" on a string . 7 . Cheltenham, UK .
  59. News: 1951-07-21 . Cheltenham Chronicle . . John Wright’s Marionettes . 7 . London, UK .
  60. News: 1935-10-31 . Berwick Advertiser . . Roel Puppets at Berwick . 3 . Berwick, UK .

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