S3:E12 The puppet is innocent... Basil Jones & Adrian Kohler in conversation with Stephanie Fortunato
Guest
Basil Jones & Adrian Kohler
In conversation with
Stephanie Fortunato
In the final episode of the 2023 season, our host, Stephanie Fortunato, speaks with Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, founders of Handspring Puppet Company, whose monumental works include War Horse and Little Amal. They discuss the role of puppetry in storytelling, building new audiences, activism and bridging connections between communities.
Date of Recording
1 November 2023
Date of Publication
23 November 2023
[00:00:00]
Stephanie Fortunato: Do not be afraid to pursue the marginal, unhip, or financially unpromising. Ignite a need. Create a new market. Take risks. Out of the shadows can come great innovation. Out of the margins, an explosive vision can emerge. Out of the occluded, love and humanity can find expression. These are the words of today's guests: Handspring Puppet Company’s Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler.
[00:00:27] [THEME MUSIC]
Stephanie Fortunato: Hello! And welcome to The Three Bells. This podcast is one of a series brought to you by AEA Consulting and the Global Cultural Districts Network, in which we explore what's happening around the world at those busy and sometimes congested intersections of cultural and urban life.
I'm your host, Stephanie Fortunato, Director of Special Projects for GCDN. I'm speaking to you from the ancestral land of the Narragansett, Pokanoket, Nipmuc, and other Indigenous peoples on which Rhode Island is located. I recognise their enduring connection to this place, and I pay my respects to those who have and continue to live here, and to all First Nations people on the many lands on which we're listening today.
Well, today we are speaking with Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler. If you don't know them by name, you certainly know them by their body of work. They are the extraordinary creative team, in life and work, behind South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company. They have brought puppets to life through their exceptional skill in ground-breaking stage productions like War Horse and the Life & Times of Michael K. They also engage the full spectacle of our shared humanity in public, such as through the moving passage of a monumental puppet portraying a ten year old girl named Little Amal who followed the pathway of all too many Syrian refugees across Europe.
This is work that calls attention to social issues by bringing people together, appealing to global audiences to embrace the tragedies of our human experience, to care for all beings, to move through the world with love.
It is my pleasure to welcome Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones to The Three Bells. Hello!
[00:02:11]
Adrian Kohler: Hello, Stephanie.
[00:02:12]
Basil Jones: Hi, Stephanie. What an honour and a pleasure to be part of the community of urban conversations.
…
External Links
About Our Guests
Basil Jones is the co-founder and Executive Producer of Handspring Puppet Company. Jones completed his BFA at UCT. In 1990, Jones set up a not for profit NGO Handspring Trust, which produced the award winning Spider’s Place, an innovative, multimedia science education series for TV, radio an comic aimed at young learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Handspring Trust is involved in a number of projects in urban township and rural areas, using puppetry as a means to educate and empower youth and bring communities together through street parades and performance. He received the Naledi Executive Directors Award (2012), a lifetime achievement award from Tshwane University (2006) and an honorary doctorate in literature from UCT (2012). +
Adrian Kohler is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Handspring Puppet Company, and considered to be one of the world’s leading masters of his medium. He gained a BA Fine Art at the University of Cape Town and then spent a year at The Space Theatre and another in Birmingham U.K. at the Canon Hill Arts Centre and Weld Community Arts Centre. Kohler then moved to Botswana to run the National Popular Theatre Programme for three years. He has had a solo retrospective at the National Gallery in South Africa, and groups of his works have been shown at The Barbican Art Gallery, London and The Museum for African Art, New York. Kohler received the Michaelis Prize, a lifetime achievement award from Tshwane University (2006) and an honorary doctorate in literature UCT (2012). +
Founded by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones (with Jill Joubert and Jon Weinberg) in 1981, Handspring Puppet Company continues to explore, innovate and push the boundaries of puppetry and contemporary performance. Deeply inspired by traditional puppetry – such as the Bunraku puppeteers of Japan and the Bamana puppeteers of Mali – Handspring fuses ancient craft, technical innovation and modern dramatic themes. Over four decades, the company has collaborated with world-renowned artists, directors, musicians, actors and theatre groups performing in 295 cities in 30 countries. +
