As a final project in an internship at the Puppet Theatre Barge, a marionette theatre in London, I made my first performance with shoes. Marionette Shoes.

A Little Shoe preparing her stage and herself for a performance is suddenly interrupted by the entrance of a Big Boot. At first dubious it takes some time for the Little Shoe to acknowledge this new arrival, but, after she cleans him, she accepts him, even letting him join in her dance. They dance together to Fats Waller singing ‘Your Feet’s too Big’. By the end they are friends. At the very end, however, Sock comes on for the curtain call, taking all the applause.

Director

  • Kate Middleton

Concept

  • Bridget Whiting

Manipulation

  • Elizabeth Barron
  • Bridget Whiting

Lighting

  • Sarah Fitzpatrick

Sound

  • Kami Clifton
  • Rob Humphreys

Venues

2017

  • Puppet Theatre Barge, London
  • Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London

Process

First ideas of a shoe marionette show. A traveling show in a box.

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Storyboard of the Little Shoe and the Big Boot

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Controls for all participants: the Little Shoe, the Boot, the mirror and the handkerchief.

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Performance

Admiring

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Big Boot enters, Little Shoe is surprised

Figure Figure

Introduction, Little Shoe is dubious

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Big Boot gets a clean

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Dancing, apart and together

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Ending with an embrace

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