Cleopatra's asp

this one almost broke me

I have been broken by theatre before

the ridiculous time pressure which pushes my ability to organise process and materials always to a new limit

compounded by a necessity to continue prototyping until the eleventh hour

unlike a slow evolutionary process where we arrive at the body I am writing this from

the puppet maker is manifesting a body most often never made or tested before

often with a fantastical and visionary brief 

great ideas take time

sometimes they can be ignited in a spark flash of necessity 

although it is best not to rely upon this happening

 so

here I am writing about the two asps I designed and made for the  Shakespeare’s Globe theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra

such a marvellous miraculous fantasy

a snake which defies gravity and logic

I still hold this to be possible

but

more time
much more time for this

and until then

here are two marvellous helictical mechanical serpents

heads of hand carved brass
black resin printed spine of original experimental design
skin of formed brass copper aluminium sheet

in this production beautifully performed by Nardia Nadarajah as Cleopatra and Zoë McWhinney as Charmain
​
​directed by Blanche McIntyre
designed by Simon Daw

these ideas grow through my spirit and inside my studio continue being nurtured becoming no one knows until then it is

https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/antony-and-cleopatra/