OBJECTS WITH SOUL: The strange power of puppetry.

Those animated objects, puppets, can work powerfully on our emotions and generate empathy, seemingly tapping into some very basic part of our psyche and, perhaps, neurology. Which is the main reason why we are devoting two podcasts to this subject. In this podcast Claudia Orenstein, a leading authority on puppets and physical theatre worldwide discusses the various ways objects are deployed in performance, including their use in ritual, education and entertainment, for adults as well as children. A number of examples are described as she shares her lifelong passion for the subject and there is also an interesting theoretical discussion as to why this and other types of animation have become more popular this century. Next month on the podcast: the psychology and neuropsychology of puppetry.

Participants: Claudia Orenstein, Professor of Theatre at Hunter College and Graduate Centre CUNY, USA (who also launched a new journal of puppetry in January).

https://www.gc.cuny.edu/people/claudia-orenstein

Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and former neuropsychiatrist.

http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/ 

For more about Claudia Orenstein's book Reading the Puppet Stage:

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003096627/reading-puppet-stage-claudia-orenstein

Here is a website for The plastic bag store, which I mentioned in the conversation.

https://www.theplasticbagstore.com

 Blind Summit’s Paper Story.

https://www.blindsummit.com/paperstory

 Bread and Puppet theatre’s website:

https://breadandpuppet.org

 William Kentridge on Wozzeck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AwwwMN6q3I

Music by Stephen Brown: Prelude to Brainland.

Brainland the opera: https://www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk

Sketch by KB.

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