We are thrilled to announce a new week-long immersive Puppetry Masterclass, titled Puppet Character and the Art of Stage Setting, to be held at Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in July. Our international guest artist for 2023 is multi-award winning Scenographer and Director Marek Zákostelecký, from the Czech Republic.
This will be an exceptional opportunity to learn from an extraordinary artist in a studio masterclass that will stimulate the creative practice of puppetry, theatre, visual, interdisciplinary and screen artists.
Puppet Character and the Art of Stage Setting
The masterclass dives into the special relationship between the design of a puppet and that of its stage setting. The first part of the masterclass will focus on the key point for any puppet production – the creation of a puppet’s character and expression. Using paper, pencil, brushes, glue, drawings, paintings, collage and any art-making method imaginable, participants will create their own puppet characters.
The second part of the masterclass will concentrate on how to create and place these puppet characters in the right stage setting, with an investigation of scenography that goes beyond appearance into the nature of theatre as a whole.
Our aim will be to make a puppet theatre with a set of puppets and backdrops with a clearly defined art form as the final product. The world of 2D paper theatre will enable us to link the puppet and the setting into a coherent artistic form. We will create a theatre, backdrops and puppets for anybody to use and perform a puppet show for fun.
– Marek Zákostelecký
Special Guest Artist
Marek Zákostelecký, born in Písek, Czech Republic, studied Stage Design for Alternative and Puppet Theatre at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. From 1994 to 2013 he worked as scenographer at the world renowned Drak Theatre, taking leadership of Scenography from 1999. He has created more than 130 plays as a scenographer and over 30 plays as a director.
As a scenographer his work includes many recognised plays at home and abroad. These works brought him a nomination for the Alfréd Radok Award for the Best Stage Design in the Czech Republic. He won the Jury Prize in a festival Divadlo 2003 and the award of The Theatre Newspaper in 2014. He has also won a number of individual awards, including winning the Best Stage Design in a festival of professional puppet theatres Skupova Plzeň award five times; the award for Best Stage Design in a festival Spotkania Toruň in Poland four times; the award for Best Stage Design in a festival Banja Luka Serbia and more. He is also a prize winner of the Polish organisation Assitej’s Dorman Award.
As a director of stage plays, he has created work in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. He has previously conducted masterclass in Great Britain, Poland, Australia, and Taiwan.
Masterclass Details
Date: 24 – 28 July 2023
Times: 9.00am–5.00pm, Mon–Fri
Venue: Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, 1 Short St Fremantle
Course Cost: $495.00
Bookings: https://aupuppet.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/107293
Spots for this masterclass are limited, so make sure to secure your place today!
For questions or more information please contact:
Michael Barlow – Associate Director | asd@sppt.asn.au | 08 9335 5044
