Rebekah Caputo

Rebekah Caputo is a puppeteer, theatre actress, creative arts project manager and workshop facilitator based in Leeds. A 2006 Total Theatre Award winning performer, Rebekah writes and performs original puppetry, working in shadow, rod, lip-syncing and object manipulation. She has ten years of experience in designing, coordinating and delivering performance-based activities to adults and children of all ages and abilities.

So far, we have had talks from filmmakers, VFX artists, game designers for this year's PPP module... but I don't think I would have expected to have such an interesting speaker pay us a visit. But it makes sense considering our practice as a puppeteer's work overlaps with character performance... and I must say, it is a rather nice change of pace.

So what is puppetry? 
It is for anything inanimate to appear alive, and not just your typical puppets (No, we are seriously talking about anything, even a plastic bag, that thing can grow a face if you put your mind to it).

And why puppets?
There is just something magical about them, the fact is, with puppetry, you can be anything and do anything, without being restricted by your human form

While Rebekah originally studied acting (Which she of course still incorporates into her present practice), she grew interested with the visual side of things, as compared to narrative based performances. It was the F aulty Optic theatre of Animation (Which has since ceased its working activities, with the two founding directors forming their own separate companies and shows) that opened the way to her new found passion, she saw "Fishclay Perspex", and that's when she knew what she wanted to do instead.

After splitting from the company that she had formed alongside her old college mates, it took her one to two years to learn how to make her own puppets, experimenting with various materials (Such as paper, clay, cloth, etc.) and learning how to effectively make each one more durable than the last, as well as giving them better joints to control them more effectively during performances. And during her first few puppets show, she was able to learn what it is the audience actually liked. In all, it really came down to constant experimentation to get where she presently is.

"Celebrate the darkness within!"

It is notable that Rebekah's has a considerably macabre inspired style to her works, and it is not surprising considering her main influences include the works of Faulty Optic, Pickled Image and Folded Feather. Other thing that influence and inspire her are simply people, as we come in all shapes and sizes, she enjoys watching all the interesting folks that walk by and they definitely give her an idea on how she should design and control her puppets for future projects. Various types of masks are also a huge source of inspiration for her as they tend to be an exaggeration of the human face... and then there are skeletons, though this is for the more technical side when she needs to figure out how to build the interior of each character, especially non-human ones.

Rebekah happens to be a part of Odd Doll and works alongside Kathleen Yore, together these two has collaborated with various folks on different projects. As adult puppetry doesn't really have that big a big audience, they had to do some more family-oriented performances, such as "The Worried Walrus".

She has also worked with performing arts company A Quiet Word to create a shadow puppet instillation of a dancer's (That she collaborated with) shadow for a special event, this dancer had photos taken of her shadows, which were then inverted and projected onto the walls. Rebekah also made various things for the dancer to wear so to create unique shapes for the shadows when she was taking photos of them, you could say it was an experimental sort of puppetry. It is just interesting to note that she never truly works alone when it comes to her practice, she tends to collaborate with all sorts of people, such as models and sound composers, whom she has worked with for her MA art show.

"Music is pivotal to puppetry."

I had a video, but it was too big to upload here...

Overall, I absolutely enjoyed this talk, it was wonderful seeing Rebekah's journey, learning all sorts of new things as she went along and experimenting with all kinds of puppetry instead of merely sticking to one type. It was fun seeing my classmates taking part in the little exercise at the end too, I would have taken part if I hadn't injured my knee the other day... but eh, it doesn't hurt to simply sit back and watch once in awhile...

And before it all finally came to an end, Rebekah shared with us a reading list if we wished to look further into puppets as well as mentioned "1927's Golem at the Young Vic", which I really wouldn't mind checking out if I had the chance.