Lion Witch and the Wardrobe

Seattle Children’s Theater production of Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe a perennial favorite. Originally designed by Douglas N. Paasch. That edition resides in Syracuse now. Subsequent runs designed by Annett Mateo.

 

 

    

The centaur’s back legs are controlled by levers on the actor’s thigh.  These are photos of two of the three times that I built this.  I have tried a number of ways to mitigate the problem of the puppeteer/actor not being able to see what they are controlling. It is very hard to control a puppet you can’t see. My last attempt has the back feet resting on wheels on the ground which was the most successful yet.

 

The golden eagle, a rod puppet that was fully articulated; it could fly, retract its wings when landing. The head and mouth also moved in a life like way.

 

 

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The two squirrels are having tea with other woodland creatures played by actors. There are control rods on the back of their heads their feet are attached to the table. The heads have a full range of motion and when the head is pushed forward the body has a parallelogram mechanism that raises the hand with the tea cup so they can drink their tea.
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