I has stepped away from this blog, Puppeturgy, because it was designed to aid the process of writing my dissertation, about which there is enough written on this site. I did not anticipate the end of my masters degree to be the end of my interest in puppets, objects in performance, or postmodern performance – the focus of my research. Instead I rightly anticipated that I wouldn’t be able to create my own performance work, hold down a full time job, and maintain an intellectual blog that also stayed tuned to the pulse of contemporary theatre and performance.
However, my interest in the complex dramaturgies of object-based performance and other visual theatre has continued and in my own work the ideas alive in my dissertation have continued to fascinate and influence me. As a practitioner I’ve been able to evolve my understanding of postmodern performance, to explore the language of puppetry, and the mechanics of creating live performance using objects, primarily puppets. And of course I have gone on to see many interesting performances that clearly relate to the subject of this blog.
So I’m returning as an explorer, less an academic than a critic maybe or an observer of the scene. I’d like to continue to raise questions for debate and look at some performances in depth, relating them to larger movements in the sector and innovations they exhibit. It remains, as always, a dramaturgical endeavor.
Meanwhile, my work and experimentations are documented on pony-pie.com, a site dedicated to my professional practice.
