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Hospital D-Day 4 | Puppet Portal Project - hospital D
2009-05-19

Hospital D-Day 4

Last Wednesday I introduced new materials for the puppet making process. The previous weeks we always made simple, 2 dimensional paper puppets to be performed and filmed in a set which was inspired by Toy theatres: a cardboard box which we transformed into different spaces each time. Manipulating the puppets though turned out to sometimes be problematic, especially when filmed, as they loose their shape and visibility when moved around.

This time I brought in sticks from the beach and woods and other found objects as well as paper, cotton wool, bits and bobs and masking tape- to allow for the creation of three dimensional puppets.

I started working with a girl aged maybe 7 and a 15 year old, and to my surprise there was chatting and interaction from the start as I have had a few bunches of rather quiet kids who had needed time to “warm up”! They both made sheep / clouds and the older boy gave him a voice straight away, baaa-ing along in between puppet making and chatting on the mobile phone ("Just making sheep... baah... great fun.."). The children who joined later- inspired by the sheep-created other farm characters- pig and tractor, farmer and frog.

One of the girls who came later was 15 as well and the two teenager were chatting away, sometimes more interested in their conversation then the making- they seamed so happy having found people there age, I realized how much the school is a place of meeting for them , apart from anything else which is going on there!

I had intended to go on live link up with Helene´ s character to interview the kids` characters via webcam, helping them to develop their voice and story, but this somehow did not work so instead we looked at all the journals on the big Whitescreen whcih all children were very interested in. Then we made sets played / performed with the puppets. My intention this time was to focus on improvisation and play rather than on the production of a film with a story, but this time the teachers , inspired by watching last weeks film, were eager to get a proper story ready- (come on! Weve got to top this!) I will next time try to have a short chat about the sessions merit beforehand. Their growing engagement is brilliant though (the teacher assistant even made a puppet today, a tree..!).

Filming I let them play away which generated a chaotic story and , at the same time , lots of laughter and fun. A little boy who apparently had been in hospital for a while but had never wanted to attend school up til this day and was very quiet, took on a leading role and joined the game, to the surprise especially of the teachers who had told me she would not have expected him to talk at all. These comments are so valuable as I don t know the children in most cases .

The classroom assistant was with me all the time which was great and another teacher helped off and on whilst a third person organized consent forms. Following a very busy session last week where I had not managed to get and of the evaluation forms done and could not take images of half of the children due to missing consent forms, the teachers had in their meeting decided to support me by allocating one special person to just organize consent forms which was great and shows their growing support for the project and awareness of the needs. In some ways I really feel there is potential for more interaction with staff, but compared with other hospitals it seams more difficult as my working radius is really limited to the school setting and at this time I can make use of the school room until the last teacher leaves- which sometimes is quite early .I have no full days at the hospitals, which seems to limit the possibilities of extending the project to playroom, wards… As well the school is not situated at a space where staff and parents pass by all the time.