Award-winning puppeteer Basil Twist knows how to enchant an audience. Following eight original productions, Twist's next project is designing the puppet and set for the Department of Theater Studies' Exit the King, directed by Ellen Hemphill, Assistant Professor of the Practice and Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Twist is in residence at Duke University for the last two weeks of February and will return to campus for the showing of Exit the King from April 2 to 11.
The play features a crazed ruler caught between multiple worlds of reality as he nears his impending death. To complement the abstract plot, Twist plans to create a magical "space" incorporating both puppetry and visual animation.
"I want to create a surreal space where memories, history and both the outside and inside worlds are present on stage," Twist said. "This is more like stage design than typical puppetry. I'd like to animate this entire area to make magical things happen."
He plans to warp lights to create shadows and projections on the walls. Sheafer Theater's catwalk is a great asset and will help in controlling the puppet of the King, he said.
Many of Twist's previous works also deviate from traditional practices. As a third-generation puppeteer, he was exposed to this art early in life. He went on to become the only American graduate of France's Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts de la Marionnette.
Twist earned national acclaim in 1998 with his premiere of Symphonie Fantastique. According to his web site, the show is set to classical composer Hector Berlioz's music and features "feathers, glitter, plastics, vinyl, mirrors, slides, dyes, blacklight, overhead projections, air bubbles, and latex fishing lures." The catch? The entire show takes place in a 1000-gallon tank of water.
Fantastique does not include a single puppet in the conventional human form. Twist explained that the piece can then appeal to a wide audience, including puppeteers, dancers and other visual artists, because it is more abstract and artistic than the usual puppet show.
"It is a lyrical piece that broke the boundaries of traditional puppetry," Twist said. "You were just supposed to get lost in it and feel the movement. If you put fabric in water, for example, it becomes alive."
His later pieces also pushed past the norm. Dogugaeshi revives an old Japanese technique of screen-sliding; Petrushka is a representational ballet with music by Stravinsky; a 15-foot tall witch graces the stage in Hansel and Gretel; and Arias With a Twist showcases a puppet big band with drag queen Joey Arias.
In all his shows, Twist's goal is "to capture a moment in time, a moment that is special to me." He often finds that presenting a snapshot in time is easier with puppets than with other theatrical media. Puppetry encompasses acting, choreography, music and dancing. The pawns can also perform in ways that human actors cannot, such as gliding across the stage.
"Puppetry is the original hybrid art form with all its flexibility," Twist explained. "With puppets, you are able to do so many aspects. Everything is fair game."
Some of his creations are so intricate that three people are needed to bring one figurine to life. Other times, a single person can work five at once. Twist's team of puppeteers varies with each piece. As his productions became larger in scale, he cut back on performing in order to supervise and direct. Even so, Twist ensures that he handcrafts all the puppets. The results are cherished creations, his "children," who he feels he could never part with.
For Twist, puppetry is more than a hobby or even a line of business-it's a way of combating the onslaught of technology and fast-paced living.
"There's something truly ancient and refreshing about puppetry," he said. "What can I say? It's simple, and it's magical."
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