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Puppetry for people of all ages
Basil Twist on using puppetry to unlock theatre magic.
by Connie Blaszczyk
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 Looking for a surefire conversation stopper? Try mentioning puppetry. "Puppetry?" someone will ask. "You mean that thing where the guy behind the screen makes a sock talk?" Well, not exactly.
It turns out that in an age of fancy effects and digital wizardry, the art of puppetry is alive and well. And, in the case of Basil Twist, it's all wet too. At only thirty years old, Twist has taken "puppetry" to a whole new dimension -- underwater.
Symphonie Fantastique, Twist's recent grand opus, is performed in a massive tank in which inanimate objects such as feathers, fabrics, mirrors and mylar "come alive." This abstract water ballet recalls Disney's animation classic, Fantasia (which if you're old enough to recall, also used classical music.) Set to Hector Berlioz's score, Symphonie Fantastique made a big splash when it premiered in a 500-gallon tank at the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre in New York (where it's still showing). Later, SF expanded into a tank twice the size at the Zeum Theatre in San Francisco.
Twist, however, isn't an advocate of the "bigger is better" school of thought. More than size, what most motivates him is the intimacy of live puppetry, particularly when the puppeteer is hidden from the audience. The result is more mysterious than when the puppeteers are seen onstage.
With Symphonie Fantastique's success on both coasts, some may wonder why Twist hasn't applied his talents in more lucrative endeavors. In fact, he's turned down numerous offers. But puppetry remains the perfect playground for this visionary's unfettered imagination. And in an era of bloated blockbusters and visual overloads, that makes Twist a rarity -- an artist who understands the simplicity of real magic.
Next page | Puppets that are all in the family
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Meet innovative puppeteer Basil Twist in this video clip!
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Basil Twist
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