TRAINING
David has been fortunate enough not only to perform with his puppets internationally but he has also been privileged to teach internationally as well. Having taught all over mainland UK at One Way UK puppetry events as well as further afield in places like Northern Ireland, the Shetland Isles, Jersey, Spain, Holland, Denmark and America, David has been teaching classes on various elements of puppet performance for over 10 years.
David's most popular workshops include:
- Basic rod-arm Puppetry
A practical introduction to the basics of
bringing your rod-arm puppet to life. David
offers an informative yet relaxed atmosphere in
which to get inspired to try your hand at rod-
arm puppetry for the first time.
- Advanced rod-arm Puppetry
If you already have a handle on the basics of
puppet manipulation and you are ready to try
the next level this is for you. David will explain
some principals of advanced manipulation and
have you ready to perform a song you have
never heard before by the end of the session!
- Getting to grips with Arm Rods
Often a source of frustration and at times fear
arm rods can be a real stumbling block for
many puppeteers. David will teach you some
very simple but extremely effective techniques
in this workshop to help you truly get to grips
with arm rods.
- Learning great Lip Sync
The largest animated part of your puppet is
often its mouth... so why don't we pay more
attention to what we do with it? David will focus
on teaching dynamics for mouth movement in
this workshop. Enabling you to make small
adjustments to your performance which will
give you big results.
- Using puppets with musical instruments
Have you ever fancied getting your puppet character to play a musical istrument? If you have this
workshop is for you. We will look at various options for how to convert your puppet into a musician.
The instruments we will cover in the workshop are Piano, Keyboard, Saxaphone, Clarinet, Violin,
Guitar and Drums. You may want to come ready with a pencil and paper to sketch out your thoughts.
- Creating a unique character for your puppet
In this workshop David will help you to create a memorable unique character for your puppet. This
could either be to improve upon a character you already have, or it could be to help you design a
character to be built. We will look at key elements which help to identify and reinforce your character.
This workshop is not designed for beginners, it is for people who have some experience in puppetrry
performance.
- Choreographing your puppet performance
There is much more to putting on a good puppet show than simply throwing as many puppets into the
air as possible and hoping people like it. In this workshop we will work through some simple routines
to help bring some order and direction to the ensemble approach to puppetry.
- 1 to 1 Coaching sessions
David is available to host one to one coaching sessions. This works best if you come with a short
performance piece prepared, this provides a starting point to work from in the session. During the
session David is happy to discuss staging, puppet design, live voicing performance tips or whatever
topic you want to cover.
- Puppetry on the Street
Having performed on the streets for many years David can help you to make the most out of
performing in this challenging arena. Topics for the workshop include sound systems, staging, content
and pace of your show.
