Talking Sock

Launching on Saturday March 21 World Puppetry Day Welcome to Talking Sock! An originally Australian puppet podcast.Created and Produced by Pete Davidson at One Orange Sock Productions, we can't wait to release our first episodes this coming Saturday.Hear interviews with puppet builder Katherine Hannaford, Creature Technologies Alumni and creator of Puppetvision Philip Millar, UNIMA Australia General Secretary and owner operator at Pupperoos Kay Yasugi, and Shadow Puppetry legend, Richard Bradshaw.Subsequent episodes will be released weekly throughout Autumn.You can find out more at oneorangesock.com and find us on our socials:Insta: @oneorangesockproductionsTwitter: @talkingsockcastFollow us! And join the conversation,Here,At Talking Sock

Welcome! We are so excited to bring you our first episode, published on World Puppetry Day, March 21, 2020. We all have a stake in talking about education, because we have all been to school. It has fascinated me that the more puppeteers and practitioners I come across, the more I found they have a background as an educator in some way. Katherine Hannaford is no exception to the rule. An art trained teacher librarian in a Western Sydney public high school, Katherine has brought truckloads of puppetry to her students. What’s more, she is immersing it into her curriculum writing in STEAM - a huge buzz word of the industry at the moment. And as my puppet mentor - it seems only fitting to begin this series with her.Katherine’s puppet story begins with her deep gratitude and adoration of her teacher, Marie-Martine Ferrari. Ferrari worked with Henson at the 1987 Festival of Puppetry in Charleville-Mezieres. At 23, Katherine would make the long journey to Canberra as often as she could to be taught how to build in Ferrari’s unique style of puppet making. As a practicing puppet builder for over 15 years, mostly in the Muppet style, Katherine entered my life about 4 years ago as my first puppet making teacher. The deep connection she has to her teacher and to her students is what makes Katherine a world class educator who I am so appreciative to know as my puppet master. More information including links to various people, places and things mentioned in this episode can be found on the One Orange Sock website.

This week, its all about Dinosaurs!I think when you have a passion about something, and you've held that passion for a long time, that is something to be celebrated!Philip Millar loves Dinosaurs. And boy I'm glad he does. He's brought dinosaurs back to life for Polyglot Puppet Theatre, Creature Technologies and through his own company, Puppet Vision.In this week's episode of Talking Sock, we talk about Philip's history with puppets and his journey in taking Dinosaurs and other larger than life creatures to the next level in entertainment.As a member of Creature Technologies, Philip helped developed Walking With Dinosaurs and also worked as a sculpture for Ron Mueck and Patricia Piccinini. Furthermore, he was the co-artistic director of Polyglot Puppet Theatre and started out working with Handspan Theatre Company.Philip has found himself looking back on a career filled with creativity and has shown no signs of slowing down. With Puppetvision, he continues to work in building commercial puppets while producing and directing his own shows. Whats most impressive, I think, is the versatility and technical skill Philip applies to problem solving using new media.Listen in to find out how Philip approaches producing new theatre and creating new puppets from every imaginable material.And head to One Orange Sock's website for links and mentions related to this cast.

A Life In PuppetryIn this first half of our two-part interview with Richard Bradshaw, we talk about his beginnings at The Clovelly Puppet Theatre and The Marionette Theatre of Australia, his travels as a touring performer and his time with Jim Henson and Caroll Spinney-World renowned shadow puppet master Richard Bradshaw needs no introduction to the international puppetry community. His work has been seen by millions through a life time of stage performances all over the world and through television appearances including “The Muppet Show” and an hour-long documentary in the series “Jim Henson Presents The World of Puppetry”. Australian children grew up with performances of his shadow artistry on ABC TV’s “Playschool”, where his shadow puppets were broadcast for over 30 years. From 1976 to 1983 Richard was Artistic Director of Australia’s then largest puppetry company, the Marionette Theatre of Australia. Under his directorship the company secured a permanent theatre space in The Rocks in Sydney. As Artistic Director, Richard introduced modern puppetry techniques to Australian audiences and inspired many young puppeteers who were given the opportunity to work and learn from some of Australia’s best puppeteers and puppet makers.Richard has performed with his shadow puppets for audiences of children and adults for over 50 years to over 25 countries. In 1986 Richard received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) “for services to the arts as a puppeteer” and in 1987 he shared the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award “for sustained excellence in the field of puppetry”. Richard been a member of the international puppetry organisation, UNIMA, since 1964 and helped to establish UNIMA Australia in 1970. He is an honorary member of both organisations, and was President of UNIMA Australia from 2004 to 2008.In 2015 he published his book “Richard Bradshaw’s Guide to Shadow Puppets”, where he shares his techniques for designing, constructing, and performing with silhouette shadow puppets.Make sure you check out the show notes on our websiteAnd join the conversation on our socials@talkingsockcast (Twitter)@oneorangesockproductions (Instagram)Please consider becoming a Patron and support home grown creative content. Your support will help us make this podcast more accessible in creating Transcripts and will help us be able to sustain this cast!Thanks for listening to #TalkingSockpodcast

Giving Life to PuppetryIn this second episode of our two-part interview with Richard Bradshaw, we discuss UNIMA Australia, a book about shadow puppets, Norman Hetherington of Mr Squiggle and how Richard makes his puppets so distinct and engaging for young audiences.-World renowned shadow puppet master Richard Bradshaw needs no introduction to the international puppetry community. His work has been seen by millions through a life time of stage performances all over the world and through television appearances including “The Muppet Show” and an hour-long documentary in the series “Jim Henson Presents The World of Puppetry”. Australian children grew up with performances of his shadow artistry on ABC TV’s “Playschool”, where his shadow puppets were broadcast for over 30 years. From 1976 to 1983 Richard was Artistic Director of Australia’s then largest puppetry company, the Marionette Theatre of Australia. Under his directorship the company secured a permanent theatre space in The Rocks in Sydney. As Artistic Director, Richard introduced modern puppetry techniques to Australian audiences and inspired many young puppeteers who were given the opportunity to work and learn from some of Australia’s best puppeteers and puppet makers.Richard has performed with his shadow puppets for audiences of children and adults for over 50 years to over 25 countries. In 1986 Richard received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) “for services to the arts as a puppeteer” and in 1987 he shared the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award “for sustained excellence in the field of puppetry”. Richard been a member of the international puppetry organisation, UNIMA, since 1964 and helped to establish UNIMA Australia in 1970. He is an honorary member of both organisations, and was President of UNIMA Australia from 2004 to 2008.In 2015 he published his book “Richard Bradshaw’s Guide to Shadow Puppets”, where he shares his techniques for designing, constructing, and performing with silhouette shadow puppets.Make sure you check out the show notes on our websiteAnd join the conversation on our socials@talkingsockcast (Twitter)@oneorangesockproductions (Instagram)Please consider becoming a Patron and support home grown creative content. Your support will help us make this podcast more accessible in creating Transcripts and will help us be able to sustain this cast!Thanks for listening to #TalkingSockPodcast

In this week's episode, I am joined in Sydney by Kailah Cabanas.A content warning for our listeners, this episode does include content related to mental health and disordered eating. If this content brings up sensitive thoughts or feelings, contact www.beyondblue.org.au / 1300 22 4636, www.kidshelpline.com.au / 1800 55 1800 or www.lifeline.org.au / 13 11 14Kailah, is an independent actor and puppeteer and trainer who is kicking goals in theatre, film and TV. She has toured with The National Theatre Company’s production of War Horse Australia for the characters of Joey, Topthorne and Goose and recently, Kailah toured with Monkey Baa Theatre Company’s production of Diary of A Wombat in the USA. Her other credits include CPD’s Spot The Dog national tour of Australia and Cirque du Soleil’s production Tooruk, the First Flight.I talk to Kailah about her experiences as a puppeteer in the industry of ‘big’ touring productions and working as a solo performing artist. I ask her how one auditions for a company like Cirque and what the process is. You'll find out - its a rigorous ride from start to finish! Kailah tells all about her personal struggles in coping with the demands brought on by the role and tells us how she has turned the experience into actions that benefit others.Make sure you check out the show notes on our websiteAnd join the conversation on our socials@talkingsockcast (Twitter)@oneorangesockproductions (Instagram)Please consider becoming a Patron and support home grown creative content. Your support will help us make this podcast more accessible in creating Transcripts and will help us be able to sustain this cast!Thanks for listening to #TalkingSockPodcast

In this week's episode, I am joined by President of UNIMA Australia and owner/ operator of Dram Puppets, Richard Hart.Richard has been performing under Dream Puppets for nearly 25 years and has been the President of UNIMA Australia for the past 6 years.Dream Puppet shows use black light puppetry where the signature character, Dreamer, adventures through time and space in Richard's highly visual and largely conceptual style. I visited him in his home where his elaborate studio that houses his 3x3 metre performance is out back. With his partner Julia, Richard has been delighting audiences all over Australia and the world, especially in China.We discuss what its like to run your own independent business through a NEIS scheme and develop international partnerships. We discuss music as a core component of Richard's work and the ways in which he considers and is driven by his audience. We discuss the landscape of Australian puppetry and Richard's upcoming show in which he touches on our relationship with the environment.Make sure you check out the show notes on our websiteAnd join the conversation on our socials@talkingsockcast (Twitter)@oneorangesockproductions (Instagram)Please consider becoming a Patron and support home grown creative content. Your support will help us make this podcast more accessible in creating Transcripts and will help us be able to sustain this cast!You can now also buy us a coffee!Thanks for listening to #TalkingSockPodcast

Welcome to another episode of Talking Sock,In this week's episode I am joined by Sue Wallace, professional puppetry artist and co-artistic director of the Sydney Puppet Theatre. Sue was a puppeteer at the Marionette Theatre of Australia in Sydney during the 1980s. She engages in all aspects of puppetry including directing, building and designing workshops.We discuss the Sydney Puppet Theatre and its initiation of the "One Van" International Festival of Puppetry in Blackheath NSW, which Sue directed over 10 years in association with the Blackheath Area Neighbourhood Centre.In 2005 she was awarded The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of Australia to research Puppet Centres in the USA, Europe, the UK and Japan in order to develop a working model for a Puppet Centre in Australia. Since 2010 she has been the director of ImaginArta – the Australian Puppet Centre, which is currently located in the Southern Highlands of NSW.Sue and her partner Steve Coupe from Sydney Puppet Theatre have toured extensively in Australia and have performed at several international puppet festivals and events around the world.We discuss puppet festivals among a tonne of other great stuff as we join Sue and Steve in their Southern Highlands home during one of the biggest and most terrifying great Aussie thunderstorms I have ever encountered while driving my little Mazda 3.Make sure you check out the show notes on our websiteAnd join the conversation on our socials@talkingsockcast (Twitter)@oneorangesockproductions (Instagram)Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter to help us bring more home grown creative content. Your support will help us make this podcast more accessible in creating Transcripts and will help us be able to sustain this cast!You can now also buy us a coffee!Thanks for listening to #TalkingSockPodcast