Past Plays:
The Clock in the Lobby; The Æthernomicon
The Clock in the Lobby
by Jean Daspry
Detective Mersenne and his puppet-playwright assistant, Jean Daspry, are out for a relaxing night at the theatre, but circumstances soon conspire to put the inspector on another case. Mersenne's most puzzling mystery so far, filled with murder, suspicion, love gone wrong, and most importantly, puppets!
» A team of four puppeteers skilfully brings a host of characters to life, and it’s not long before you buy into the “reality” of the puppet world. Joff Schmidt—CBC 2007 Fringe Festival reviews.
» If Edward Gorey had worked in puppetry instead of illustration, he might have come up with something like this delightful Gothic mystery set in a haunted theatre. Randal King—Winnipeg Free Press. Four stars.
The Cast
Intricator: Asa Nodelman is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg, where he majored in Philosophy and English. He has attended the Toronto School of Puppetry, worked as Marionette consultant on Trinity TV’s Lost Tales of The Brothers Grimm, and taught kindergarteners about puppetry and trees with The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Learning Through The Arts program. He has formed the Watch & Spectacle Puppet Company to placate his disastrous love of puppets, and dreams of turning Winnipeg into a Puppetry Mecca.
Stage Hands:
Erik Larsen is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg where he majored in Philosophy. Erik has little invested in theatre himself but is always enthusiastic about the enthusiasm of others and so does what he can to help. Erik has lived in Winnipeg and Fukui, Japan.
Josh Nodelman’s previous construction credits include a two-car garage, an interlocking brick integrated patio and sidewalk, several roofing and landscaping projects, and, as a heavy equipment operator some years ago, several segments of highway in northwestern Saskatchewan. On reflection, he realizes that the Fraggles' insatiable appetite for edible crystalline scaffolding may be all that's really stopping him from choking Winnipeg with his endless constructions. As a newcomer to theatrical set building, he's very much enjoying taking part in his first Fringe Festival.
Puppeteers:
Jeanne Hudek has performed as a puppeteer in a few small shows but this is her first full-scale public appearance. Jeanne has recently graduated from the University of Winnipeg’s faculty of Education and is going on to teach a multiage 5-6 class at Riverview Elementary. She feels that spending most of her summer preparing and performing as a puppeteer will be the perfect way to get ready for her first teaching position, though she does not feel that children are to be treated as puppets.
Jason Hooper is a theatre student at the University of Winnipeg. He hopes to one day make a living as an artist. Don’t tell his professors, they will laugh at him. He has lived in Winnipeg, Halifax, and Ghana. This is his second public performance.
Shannon Guile has been pulling strings for years- heartstrings! Since this former “Barker’s Beauty” is now out of a job, she is directing her artistic focus towards her sketch comedy troupe, Hot Thespian Action, and Commedia dell’Arte troupe, Foolish Wit. She is excited to work with puppets for a change, as she is not a people person and hates physical contact… Don’t touch me!!!
Dan Powell's accomplishments run the gamut of human experience. He is a long-time advocate of Fabricated-Canadian rights as well as chief editor of The Journal of Theoretical Puppetry. His work on this production comes in the summer break of his Masters of Urban Planning program at McGill, to which he will return in the fall. His greatest hope is that puppetry and the theatre will continue to pay the bills until this public servant thing takes off.
The Pianist
Shannon Wiebe currently resides in Roslyn Court, an apartment building known for its haunted rooms, secret passageways, and Escher-esque staircases. When she is not rehearsing the same six songs on her piano, to the dismay of her long-suffering sister, she studies Environmental Design with the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba. Upon graduation next spring, she plans to sleep for 48 consecutive hours and then determine what to do with the rest of her life.
Thanks:
The Watch & Spectacle Puppet Company would like to thank all of their friends, family, and employers for their patience during the production of this play.
Thanks to Mitchell’s Fabrics for cutting us a deal.
Thanks to Jenny Nodelman, the greatest publicist!
Thanks to everyone who loaned us motor vehicles.
Erik thanks Nicole Dimen for her loving support of his interest in the art of puppetry.
Jason thanks Wendy Sawatzky for a million little things and one really big one.
Asa thanks Shawn Kettner for introducing him to foam rubber.
More about the play—Asa describes how it came about:
In late 2006, it was suggested that I apply for the fringe lottery. I unwittingly checked the website on the last day for submissions, and so I was forced to apply right then. The lottery placed me fourth in the waiting list, and I set to work.
In the next six and a half months I wrote the story for the play. I was inspired by previous play to write a murder mystery set in an old theatre. My concept for the script was a sort of long-form improv: I would write the different scenes and the action of the play, what clues needed to be found and when, and then the puppeteers would improvise within that structure. I did write a few key lines for the puppeteers, and the final solution soliloquy, but no more. The result was a play that was a little different every night, but not so different that the lighting cues couldn’t be managed.
While I wrote, I also built. The play called for eleven characters. I wanted to make puppets a little more complex and expressive than the standard single-rod-to-head kind, so I introduced a second rod to the head that would allow the puppet to look around, shake its head, and nod. The heads were of foam rubber, the hands of paper clay, the bodies of cloth. I planned a stage built on two levels. Each level would have three sections attached with double hinges so that the wings of the stage could be angled forward or back. The middle of the higher section of the stage would have a small proscenium where a show could happen in the theatre of the play. All of the upper railings would have slots which scenery and props could be dropped into and held in place onstage. My brother helped me edit my plan and he built the stage. I sewed curtains to cover it.
There were quite a few props called for by the play. Tables, a cabinet, a door, a knife, removable ghost and devil costumes, a break-away catwalk and so on were required, and I built most of these with small wooden beams, foam core, and poster board.
I chose music and arranged for a pianist, who doubled as the sound effects person.
I trained four puppeteers for the play with workshops in improvisation and movement and together we blocked and rehearsed the show. Towards the end of the rehearsals we included two stagehands (both of whom were involved in earlier steps of construction) to help with the stage and curtains.
It ran to one hour, and received the Best of the Fest award (2007), as well as being short listed for the Harry S. Rintoul award. It also received a Jenny award for puppetry.
