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A fifth grader from St. Michael’s Academy
meets a puppet from the presentation of “the
Hobbit.”
aisinouv
Jeanne Mathes holds up one of the puppets
from the presentation of “the Hobbit.” The girls
are fifth-graders from Bryan.
photos by Pam Rimoldi
Hobbits really made of foam
By CATHY SAATHOFF
Battalion Staff
The Hutsah Puppet Theater pre
sented J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hob
bit” Tuesday night with a set of pup
pets made of foam rubber and
scraps of material.
The story, presented on a
wooden stage with interchangeable
backgrounds, tells of Bilbo Baggins
and his journey through Middle
Earth in search of stolen treasure.
The fantasy dwarfs, hobbits and
trolls of “The Hobbit” are well-
suited for puppet-making.
Mark Norby, spokesman for the
six-member Hutsah troupe, con
ducted a workshop Tuesday after
noon to give puppets’ background.
Those little puppets that guided the
audience through Middle Earth are
put together with foam rubber, rope,
scraps and a lot of imagination.
Norby said the puppets are the
hand and rod type, like the Muppets
and Sesame Street characters.
They are operated from behind a
curtain, with puppeteers holding the
puppets over their heads.
The soundtrack of the show is on
tape. The puppeteers must coordin
ate the movements of the puppets
with the sound on the tape.
The puppets look convincing
from the audience, but up close
they look like they’ve had a rough
life, traveling from college to college
stuffed in large bags.
Besides an occasional head
above the curtain, the only thing
visible to the audience is the sticks
which are attached to each charac
ter's hand to control movement.
“You don’t realize the puppets
have sticks on their arms after
awhile,” Norby said.
The puppets start out as sheets
and cubes of foam rubber. The
sheets are rolled to make puppet
bodies, and the segmented heads
and arms are attached with rope.
The head cubes are slit to create
the mouth, which the puppeteer’s
hand goes in. The facial contours
are carved with scissors and razor
blades.
The nose, ears and other fea
tures are carved separately and
attached with contact cement. The
eyes, which sparkle under the
lights, are really half ping-pong balls
with buttons glued on.
The puppets are covered with a
thin layer of art foam, which
smooths out their “skin.” They are
then painted with various colors of
acrylic paint.
The puppets have no legs, so the
only clothing required is a shirt,
which Norby said is made of scraps
of cloth.
Jeanne Mathes, another pup
peteer, said the puppets’ necks and
wrists wear out often and must be
replaced.
Manipulation of the puppets is
“very uncomfortable,” Norby said.
The puppeteers, who are behind a
curtain, must hold the puppets over
their heads and operate the mouths
and arms. Sticks are attached to
one arm of each puppet, and
Mathes said the arms usually hang
at the puppet’s side except when
the character is speaking.
Making the puppet appear life
like isn’t an easy task, Norby said.
The puppeteer assumes a charac
ter walk to give the puppet the same
walk.
Puppet speech involves moving
the head and opening the mouth on
certain syllables, as well as gestur
ing for emphasis and expression.
Most of the 30 puppets require
only one hand, unless the arm is
moved. Since there are only six
puppeteers, one person often has
to control two puppets.
The only exception in “The Hob
bit” is Gollum, the schizophrenic
green creature Bilbo Baggins en
counters in a cave. Gollum is slight
ly hyperactive, and needs one hand
to work his body and another for
both arms.
The dragon, Smaug, was the au
dience’s unanimous favorite when
Norby asked after the show which
puppet they would like to see.
Smaug is a huge green creation
who stole a scene from tiny Bilbo.
Smaug’s eyes glow, and his wings
take up the entire stage. And he
belches smoke at the end of his
speech to Bilbo.
Smaug is a head puppet — he is
worn on a puppeteer’s head, two
others hold his wings and another
carries the fire extingusher that pro
duces the smoke.
Other special effects, like flashes
of lightning and a glowing staff for
wizard Gandalf, impressed the au
dience, but Smaug seemed to be
the favorite.
One of director Rusty Steiger’s
purposes in producing “The Hob
bit” is to promote puppet theater for
adults. The show is not recom
mended for children under 7, but
the audience was full of enchanted
little faces, and when Norby brought
out puppets for display after the per
formance a stampede of little feet
headed to the stage.
The Hutsah Puppet Theater,
which is based in Chicago, was
sponsored by the MSC committees
Cepheid Variable, Arts and Free
University.
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815 Harvey Rd. (Highway 30)
College Station, Texas 77840
693-1991
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