Webb’s Toy Theatre Festival
was an absolute DELIGHT
and we were thrilled to be able to
attend. We always learn a lot watching the skilled performers -
and it is such fun visiting with
them.
Laurie Webb deserves (and
received) the heartfelt gratitude of the entire English Toy Theatre
community for the superb presentation of his Great Grandfather’s
contribution to our craft! It
was held in Broadstairs UK
southeast of London, on the sea between Ramsgate and Margate, Oct
14-16 2005. Interestingly enough, another prominent Toy
Theatre enthusiast, Charles Dickens,
lived and worked here and the Webb
Fest Exhibit was held in Dickens' home.
Readers are encouraged to refer to the Festival Brochure in the Events
section of this website
to see the star-studded list of performers. Nine of Webb’s plays were
presented - usually in
actual Webb Theatres. While
some of the photos show the lovely
Webb Scenes and Figures,
photographing performances was not allowed - so what you will see here
is what we found to be
most interesting - the preparations and style of the presenters.
Here we go!!
Robert Poulter, who lives in this
area and helped with the arrangements of the Festival, was the
first performer. He has always amazed audiences with the
incredible speed that EVERYTHING - figures, scenery, props - moves on,
off, and around his stage - it's like having a moving picture
created before your very eyes. Equally fascinating, however, is
Robert’s personal
presentation - he is visible to the audience at all times and it is
sometimes difficult to take
attention away from Robert and watch the play. The Play in this
instance is Webb’s masterpiece Guy Fawkes or The
Gunpowder plot which was masterfully
performed - although different
in that it was done “Penny Plain”. This was a surprise in that
Robert always draws and colors all
of his own figures and sets. Using someone else's art work was a
complete deviation for
him, but here it was appropriate.
Barry Clarke chose Webb’s
version of “Robin Hood” and did an exciting presentation of the
work. He is an outstanding performer in every way -
particularly in the uses he makes of his
own voice! He also stays in view of his audiences and does his
show completely live - no
recordings. He might be surprised to learn that he appears to act
right along with his figures and
it makes the whole show more fun for the audience and his use of
Medieval tricks etc is always
interesting. We loved the Grand
Ballet of Marian & Her Maidens. Wish I could identify
the
theatre - it was beautiful as were his scenes and figures.
Here's Robin Cherry,
coping with the
incredible variety of complexities necessary in presenting a polished
Toy Theatre production. Just thought you readers might like to
see
what the great British TT masters really go thru backstage.
Amazing!!
Robin
Cherry offered great photo
opportunities for both the front and back sides of his
presentation of Union Jack or The
Sailor & the Settler’s Daughter Adding miniature
dollhouse lighting to the lanterns on the outside of his theatre had
great appeal - witness the
extreme fascination exhibited by his young audience in this
photo.
 |
ASTLEY'S AMPHITHEATRE by Peter Baldwin
|
|
Peter
Baldwin is a surprise
each time you see him perform - he actually “outdoes” himself
EVERY TIME!! The stage he used was not his usual Antique English
Toy Theatre type - it was
a modification of a classic Greek
amphitheatre.
Peter did what amounted
to a Pageant with a
“cast of thousands” in this arena. It was just remarkable - and
the
audience was just as excited
as if this were actually a circus they were viewing.
You can see the
“cast of thousands” on
sliders ready to perform on stage - and we even include a photo of
Peter’s setup before the start
of the show. You can see his notes mounted on a card where they are
easily seen. We would be
amiss if we did not mention Peter’s trumpet which hailed the entrance
of the “troups” for the
battles - of which there were lots! A truly thrilling performance
with
the BRITISH victory as the
climax!!
|
|
Ted
Hawkins is the Ultimate Toy
Theatre Organizer. For his
presentation of The
Forest of
Bondy or
The Dog of Montargis, he has his entire show mounted on the back
of the theatre in
order of entrance. Each piece is not only labeled, it
is color-coded!
He is in
complete control at all times - and even has two assistants, his wife
and grand-daughter, who
must also memorize the system. Most Toy Theatre performers are
“solo”
and while it is useful to
have extra hands to push the sliders and help with the voices, just
staying out of each others way
in such a small theatre can be quite a challenge.
In
the
first photo, we see his
labeling system on some of the “pieces” which have already
“performed”.
The second photo
shows the Dog in an attack mode on stage. The third photo has Ted
Hawkins, himself,
explaining his system to a couple of fans.
Brian Green is doing a final
check on all aspects of his prepared
performance of Webb’s version
of The Maid and
The Magpie. In the photo Brian is
getting himself “focused”
for his coming presentation.
 |
Brian is an especially skilled
artist
performing “solo” and doing the
entire script with great voice changes - from memory!! This story
is
very well known - in fact Rossini
wrote an opera about it
- but the Toy Theatre version has
its own special charm, and he did a particularly masterful job of
handling his large flying
Magpie.
|
|
We didn’t get to see the last two performances - as we had to
return
to London to join a tourbus
to northern Scotland.
Here is a photo of Peter and Sylvia
Peasgood - they did Jack and the
Beanstalk (which we videotaped at an earlier festival).
(For those of you
who do not know
Peter - he performs 24-7 with or without a Toy Theatre.)
And we
were
especially sorry to miss
Joe Gladwin's Bluebeard - as
he is such an outstanding performer and
we have followed his
development as a Toy Theatre Artist from what was, I believe, his
beginning - a performance of Dracula at the
Puppet Center on Lavender Hill in
1995.
|
 |
We close with a photo of Shakespeare’s
Theatre in Stratford upon
Avon which was the first stop
on our way to Northern Scotland. Our whole trip was a
delight - giving us a much needed
vacation from the stress and devastation at home from hurricane
Katrina!
As usual, we went to the
theatre every night we spent in London!!
