Odds 'n' Ends: B Movie Victims

Here is where I take the opportunity to show off some of the toys and paper models I have collected, that are only tangentially related to tabletop theater.

This last Christmas I received a set of Horrified B-Movie Victims. The photo above was found online and I post it only because it is a better representation of the set than anything I could muster. I was inspired to post the set of figures after seeing Tiny Ninja Theatre's production of Romeo and Juliet.

The back card says, "We provide the victims, you provide the terror!" This terrified crew of hard plastic three inch figures look like a lot of actors I have seen, especially ones leaving my rehearsals.

The Horrified B-Movie Victims come from the novelty company Accoutrements. I am a big fan of their products including zombie finger puppets. If you aren't a wholesaler though I recommend checking out their retail division Archie McPhee.

Professor Frederick's Punch and Judy

I have had the pleasure of seeing Professor Frederick's Punch Van Winkle Show during Historic Hudson Valley's Legend Weekend for a number of years now.

Puppeteer Fred Greenspan and his wife have designed and published a finger puppet adaptation of Punch and Judy. I picked up a copy of their book a few years back, and spent a pleasant afternoon cutting and coloring the nine characters found inside. Also included in the book are a stagefront that can be mounted onto a box to create a theater, and a short Punch script to get people started with their own show.

You can pick up a copy of Greenspan's Punch & Judy Color & Cut Finger Puppet Theatre at Greg Johnson Books.

A Defensive Note Regarding My Photos

So I have been spending the last couple of weeks taking photos of various pieces of my collection, working in advance of my entries. One thing has become quite clear. I’m no photographer. There is a branch of commercial photography called tabletop photography it is what makes ice cream look so good in the advertisements. That is a skill and it also involves things like lights, and filters, and tripods. My little theaters look like they were captured on film in a police line up. So let me apologize for the pictures ahead of time. But imagine, if these are the photos I kept, you should have seen the ones that got cut.

Tiny Ninja Theatre's Romeo and Juilet

Originally published on the Playlab NYC Playground Blog on January 18, 2009.

You are moving into a land of between classic drama and found object puppetry. You've just crossed over into...Tiny Ninja Theatre.

Chris Head and Melanie Hipchikz as Romeo & Juliet

(promotional poster)

Armed with the company’s motto of “There are no small parts only small actors” founder and puppeteer Dov Weinstein uses miniature plastic toys to present forty-five minute versions of some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.

Founded in 1999 Tiny Ninja Theatre made its debut with Macbeth at the 2000 NYC International Fringe Festival. In the nearly ten years since then Weinstein has added Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet to the troupe’s repertory. Tiny Ninja Theatre has also created a backlog of original shows as well including A Brief History of D.U.M.B.O. and The Effects of Nuclear War, and they have presented their performances all over the world.

A couple years ago I had tried to get tickets for a Tiny Ninja performance of Hamlet at PS 122, but the show had already sold out. In January I was finally able to check out Tiny Ninja Theatre, when 92Y Tribeca presented Romeo and Juliet. Located at 200 Hudson Street in New York City, 92YTribeca is the 92nd Street Y's new arts and entertainment venue.

Entering the playing area dressed entirely in white, Dov Weinstein leads a cast of not only tiny ninjas but an “assorted dime store figures” as well. A good puppeteer, Weinstein invests his performing objects with life by giving them total focus. He absorbs himself in the figures, like a child playing with his toys except with much better diction. It is difficult enough to clearly speak Shakespeare’s lines, but the performer makes it even more challenging by taking on 18 speaking parts himself.

There is a lot of wit to be found in the staging. The prince addresses the crowd from on high perched on the visor of a baseball cap. Outside Juliet’s balcony is a grove of trees made up of green plastic forks and spoons. The apothecary is a skeleton key chain, an obvious figure of death that got a laugh. Weinstein indulges in some pop culture short hand. The audience knows that the prince is ineffectual because he speaks with Elmer Fudd’s voice, just as they can tell Tybalt is a bad ass because a tiny figure of Bruce Lee takes the part.

I was startled by how low tech the show was. While the performance is very polished it maintains its low-tech charm, shunning a service gloss that would be easy to achieve after so many years of performance. White boxes suggest the different locals, sometimes opening up to reveal miniature sets contained inside. The unveiling of the Capulet’s disco ballroom yielded applause the night I attended. Each box is self-contained with doubles and triples of each of the cast members, allowing for quick transitions and a minimum of misplaced actors.

What surprised me was the lack of camp. Romero’s meeting of Juliet’s at the Capulet’s party is tender and intimate. When Romeo discovers Juliet in the crypt Weinstein cups a jewelry box with her body in his own hand and takes on Romeo’s role drinking the poison from a cup. Like all children at play the performance is very earnest.

I still want to see the Tiny Ninja cast in Hamlet though.