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Educators' Guide: Brick Bros. Circus

TEACHERS' NOTES: Things to do with your students before and after a performance of Puppetmongers' Brick Bros. Circus

Circus is one of the most active of entertainments.
Bricks are among the most inanimate of objects.
So... A circus of performing bricks is puppetry taken to its logical extreme.

WHY BRICKS?
Ah yes, why indeed. As puppeteers, we have used many kinds of puppets and seen many different kinds of puppet shows. Back in 1977, we were swapping puppet anecdotes with puppeteer Steve Hanson of California and Loet Vos, director of the Toronto Museum of Childhood, when Steve suggested an idea he'd had for using a brick in a show. After all, puppetry is simply the animation of inanimate objects for an audience. Then Loet threw in the idea of a circus. The idea, the combination was so incongruous, so off the wall, we thought... Why Not?!

Activities:

Identify what other objects could be puppets and discuss what makes some more imaginative than others. Pots and pans? Fruits and vegetables?

HOW DID PUPPETMONGERS FIND THE CHARACTERS?
Having decided to create a brick circus, we brainstormed ideas for brick acts: The acrobatic Bildovitch family from the former Brichoslovakia, Brikko the Clown, Madame Brikaskova, the wild brick, the cleaning brick, trained bricks, bare brick riding... When we told our friends about the idea many volunteered bricks from their gardens, bookshelves and doorways. The original cast of 15 is still performing with us - what troupers!. When we tour the show further afield, (the U.S., Europe etc.) and cannot afford plane tickets for the whole cast, we audition and train local talent. And each nationality that we've worked with has contibuted something unique to the development of the circus.

Activities:

Discuss how you find the name for a new pet. By colour? shape? gender? With the objects you identified in the first activity, what characteristics might suggest each one's name, or personality, or occupation, or country of origin, or... ?

WHY DO PUPPETMONGERS HAVE THEIR HANDS ON THE BRICKS?
Part of the design process in creating a new show, before anything can be built, is deciding how it will be presented. We could have put strings on the bricks and manipulated them from above as marionettes, or attached sticks to them and used them as rod puppets worked from below. We decided on a hands-on approach for maximum maneuverability. Anyway, bricks don't do much on their own they need a lot of encouragement.

Activities:

  • Investigate what other methods of puppetry there are around the world, i.e. shadows, Bunraku, marionettes...
  • Look into the materials used, methods of control, stories told, staging etc.
  • Tie it into the study of another culture or country.

HOW DO YOU MAKE THE COSTUMES?
We decided to use partial costumes in most of the acts, just enough to impart a circus flavour without diguising or changing the essential brickness of the bricks. They are constructed much like removable doll clothes, but without sleeves or legs, as the artists have to change costumes during the show. They were also created with a mind to fitting the many different sizes of bricks we encounter in our travels.

Activities:

  • Discuss what kinds of stories or presentations might suit the objects you identified in the first activity.
  • Divide the class into small groups (4 or 5 people). Have each group choose a different type of object and develop a story or presentation, with costumes, props and dialogue.

HOW DID PUPPETMONGERS MAKE THE MUSIC?
We use a number of different instruments - slide whistle, sopranino recorder, kazoos, tambourine, whistles, gong - as well as original recorded music, to enhance the show and create an atmosphere unique to the Brick Bros. Circus. To arrive at this soundscape, we researched circus music and experimented with traditional and classical music (listen for Rock a Bye baby rendered in a Wagnerian style!)

Activities:

Have students imagine what instruments and tunes would enhance their own stories and presentations. Add sound effects and music to these shows.

SOME QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION

  • What is a circus?
  • Where do they come from?
  • How have they changed over time?
  • What were the cultural influences behind the Roman Circus, the Cirque de Soleil, Barnum & Bailey Circus, Cirque Archaos?
  • What other puppet theatre companies can you think of?
  • What kinds of puppets do they use?
  • What cultural influences were behind their creation and development?
  • What part do the puppeteers play in each?

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