Puppet Stages

[StephenC]

Hello everyone. I am considering building a big stage for some puppet shows. However, I have been to many of your websites and find that most are right around 5-7’ wide and a few feet deep. It appears that many sit when doing shows.

I have in mind to build a stage that would be roughly a big square house shape (similar to a Punch & Judy stage). The dimensions would be around 12-15’ wide & 8-10’ deep. You would stand to do the puppet shows. I have tried to do a diagram here for you.

aaaaaaaa/ aaaa\
aaaaaa/ aaaaaaa\
-----/aaaaaaaaaaa\-------- total +/- 20’
---/aaaaaaaaaaaaaa-\
/___________________\
| ...........................|
| ......Open for puppets | ........6’
|____________________|
| ......_O_ ................|
| ........| .................| ........6’
|______/\____________|
..........wide 12-15’

I would like to know what you think are the pros and cons of a bigger stage vs a smaller stage.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[Punch'n'Judy]

Crikey, that is big. Remember a lot of venues won't like 20 foot high booths.

 

[Ruben]

I think that it depends on what show you are doing. Like if you were doing a show with one puppet vs a show with eightor ten puppets up at a time. the more prefomers the more room you need. It also depend on what doing with the puppet. If you are doing a lot of action and using a lot of props you need more space to move around. If the puppet is just talking then not as much space is needed. The stage that I perform with can be ajusted from as small as 3ft to as big as 12ft long. It can change from a depth of 2ft to 4ft. the height can be as short as 3ft and as tall as 8ft. This way when the puppet team I preform with can decide on stage size by the show that we are doing.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

That really is a big stage. I know some companies use two - a larger one for ideal venues and a smaller one for places the big one can't be used in.

 

[Phantom]

Maybe you only need 3' for the opening. That would save you some space. Also maybe instead of one large house type roof, you could do a row of smaller roofs. There again you can cut your height down another few feet and pull this off in a 10'-12' range. For "shorter" venues, you may want to make a roof optional. This assuming you want portablilty. If it's fixed, build on!

I did one performance with a 6' high, 48' long curtain (no roof). We used prop houses to simulate a street. Once we "arrived" at the next house, the prop turned to reveal an interior scene. With spot lighting the effect was neat...but I digress... Good luck.

 

[scarylarrywolf]

My greatest word of advice is make sure you can transport it easily.If it's PVC and fabric that's one thing, but hard materials are a pain in the butt to haul around.

 

[wes]

May i suggest you check out One way street Productions, here a pic of the stage they salw it's great it the best one Grand ($1000) I ever spent

Drawing

Actual

Here are soem picture to show how versital the stage isInuse

The stage is very protable and light weight. It can expand to over 7 feet, the onll draw back is the more you strech it the more flemsy it becomes.

 

[StephenC]

Thanks for all the input. It has been helpful. I think I might build that big huge stage in a couple of years for an outdoor puppets at the park type of deal. Since most of the shows will be indoors, I will use a stage set up I saw in Italy. It was a bunch of cardboard boxes and flat sheets of wood. For many of the shows I want to do, this stage will be perfect. It will be different and hopefully kinda cool looking too.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

There's a puppeteer in Ontario, Mike Harding, who uses a stage made from a large cardboard fridge box (or at least he used to). It's covered in fabric and looks great, is super light and easy to transport. I think that would be a lot easier than lugging around some made from wood or a bunch of PVC pipes.

 

[AEaston]

I once saw an old Circus Wagon...it was probably the coolest thing ever. I thought about trying to find one and turning it into a traveling puppet theater but haven't found one like it anywhere..perhaps I'll just have to make it myself