Our influences
Indigo Moon's shows and educational work are inspired by both traditional and contemporary techniques. Whenever possible we aspire to making seamless shows which allow the audience to enter another world and leave this one behind for the duration of the performance. We also seek any opportunities within our shows to appeal at different levels to different ages, and, in keeping with tradition, to communicate as well as entertain.
Traditional puppets from around the world such as Indonesian Wayang Golek (rod puppets), Wayang Kulit (shadow puppets), translucent shadow puppets from South India and Rajasthani string puppets (kathputli) have all inspired our work and feature in our demonstration collection which we use in Workshops.The folk dance of Saraswati our dancing marionette also originates from Rajasthan, whereas the marionette of Alice which features in Alice & the White Rabbit uses European techniques.
For information about traditional Indonesian Puppetry
Our shows The Worm That Squirmed and The Lost Forest both mainly use traditional Wayang Golek, though we stage them in a non-traditional way combined with other media including shadows and our own original music, adapted to suit family audiences (- with shorter attention spans than those who are used to watching puppet shows through the night in Indonesia!).
In the case of our 2 shadow theatre shows, Alice & the White Rabbit and Aladdin, as well as our shadow theatre techniques workshops, we have been inspired by the work of German shadow film pioneer Lotte Reiniger, Italian company Teatro Gioca Vita, American shadow artist Larry Reed and Indonesian (Balinese) director Putu Wijaya. Large scale creative techniques and the accessibility of this art form - with its ability to make spectacular effects relatively easily - make this another very satisfying medium to work with.
Visit our profiles in this section to learn more about our freelance team.
Left: Rajasthani kathputli
Right: South Indian Shadow puppet
