Handspring Puppet Company was founded in Cape Town in 1981 by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler. The company's original focus was the creation of new South African plays for children and for the first five years they toured educational shows to primary schools throughout Southern Africa. In 1986 they moved to Johannesburg and began work in children's educational television. Between 1990 and 1995 they produced Spider's Place, a multi-media science education programme with teacher development outreach.    However, Handspring had always felt the challenge of developing an adult audience for the theatre of puppets and therefore began at night to workshop plays for adults. The first step in this unmarked territory was Episodes of an Easter Rising in 1985, performed in Cape Town, Grahamstown and Johannesburg. They were astonished and delighted by the strong support the production received from adult audiences and the press. This set the arc for all their future theatre work. Exposure to international theatre for puppets at the 7th international Festival of Puppet Theatre in Charleville-Mezzieres in 1985 increased their resolve to work for adults.    Their first international success came in 1991 with Starbrites directed by Barney Simon, which toured to Europe and had a London season. In '92 they began work with the artist, William Kentridge. Their first collaboration, Woyzeck on the Highveld won many awards in South Africa and was highly acclaimed at festivals around the world. Since then, the company has collaborated with Kentridge on several other multi-media productions.    The rich theatre life that existed in Johannesburg in the late eighties and nineties gave Handspring many opportunities to work with top South African directors. Each provoked new and unexpected developments in the way they made and worked with puppets. However, some of the changes stemmed from the performers' interaction with the materials and the demands of the performance. For rod manipulators like Handspring, the weight of the puppet was an important criterion.      During the period of the children's plays this problem was solved largely through the use of polystyrene covered in layers of paper. However, Adrian (the master puppeteer and puppet maker) always found this to be an unsympathetic material. With the Kentridge collaboration, carved wood, the medium he'd grown up with as a teenage puppeteer, appeared to be the most appropriate once again, but this time roughly carved to fit the look of the charcoal drawings that were the backbone of the animated films.    Since then a central design concern has been how to make this weighty material light enough for the puppeteers to hold aloft for the duration of their 90 minute performances. Solid wooden heads are therefore carved to be split in half, and hollowed out, leaving a cranium-like wall about 4mm thick. The bodies themselves are made of lightweight ply. In Tooth and Nail Adrian allowed some of this skeletal structure to be seen by the audience and since then has further developed this style. In The Chimp Project all the puppets, both animal and human had whole-bodied skeletal structures covered with gauze. This resulted in puppets which were fully three-dimensional, lightweight, but whose transparency evoked a lantern-like ghostliness which somehow seemed right for the play.    Handspring is now in its 21st year. A celebratory exhibition of their puppets, Episodes is currently on a nationwide tour, which opens at the South African National Gallery in Cape Town in 2002. Handspring is a modest sized company run by Adrian Kohler and his partner, Basil Jones. It is currently based in Kalk Bay, near Cape Town, where the company office and workshop are part of their house there. The company provides an artistic home and professional base for a core group of performers, designers, theatre artists and technicians who collaborate with them on a project basis.

Handspring collaborates extensively with William Kentridge, the renowned Johannesburg-based artist who works in the field of animated charcoal drawing, sculpture, printmaking and theatre direction.    Kentridge’s collaboration with Handspring started in 1992 with the production of Woyzeck on the Highveld. Since then the collaboration has included Faustus in Africa!, Ubu and the Truth Commission, Zeno at 4 am and Confessions of Zeno – an expanded version of Zeno at 4 am.   His work has been shown at Dokumenta X and XI in Kassel, Germany, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Gallery in London, and his plays have been seen at many festivals in Europe and America. Kentridge studied politics at the University of the Witwatersrand, painting at the Johannesburg Art Foundation and theatre at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France.

These are some of the people who have worked on several Handspring productions.

BUSI ZOKUFA, puppeteer   Born into a family of musicians, Busi Zokufa's early professional work was as a vocalist. In 1987 she joined Sibikwa Players in Daveyton where her first stage role was in So Where To? at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. The play also toured abroad. Zokufa then worked briefly with township-based bands at Mega Studios. In 1990 she performed as a puppeteer for the first time with Handspring in Barney Simon's Starbrites at the Market Theatre and which also went on to tour abroad. Since Starbrites, Zokufa has performed as a puppeteer with Handspring in A Spider's Place, Woyzeck on the Highveld, Faustus in Africa, The Chimp Project, Ubu and the Truth Commission, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, Zeno at 4am and Confessions. She also does television drama work.

JANE TAYLOR, writer   Jane Taylor is a South African who has worked for two decades in cultural practice and cultural critique. In 1987 she edited (with David Bunn) From South Africa, a collection of graphics and writing covering the years of Emergency in South Africa (University of Chicago Press). In 1996 she curated Fault Lines - an exhibition conceived to engage with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In the same year she wrote Ubu and the Truth Commission for Handspring and William Kentridge. In 1999 she was a Rockefellow Fellow, and she curated Holdings: Refiguring the Archive (Forthcoming, 2002). In 2001 she wrote Zeno at 4am which has been absorbed into the larger work, Confessions of Zeno. She has a PhD from Northwestern University, Chicago USA, and currently holds the Skye Chair of Dramatic Art at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She is currently writing a book on the history of affect and the performance of sincerity, and is working on a new play script.

WESLEY FRANCE, company manager and lighting designer   He has twenty years experience in production, company management and lighting design for the performing arts. He was senior production manager for the Market Theatre in Johannesburg for eight years and has been nominated numerous times for a Vita Award for Best Lighting Design, most recently for Lara Foot's production of Waiting for Godot. France has been company manager and lighting supervisor for many international tours. Since 1991 he has toured internationally with Handspring for their productions Woyzeck on the Highveld, Faustus in Africa, The Chimp Project, Ubu and the Truth Commission, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, Zeno at 4am and Confessions.

DAWID MINNAAR, actor   Completed drama studies at the Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch, started his career as a professional actor in 1981 and has been in the field ever since. He has worked extensively on stage throughout South Africa, in several television series and film. His work with Handspring includes Faustus in Africa, Ubu and the Truth Commission, Zeno at 4am and Confessions.

LOUIS SEBOKO, puppeteer   Louis' acting career started in Boikie Moklamme's Mahlombala in 1976, followed by seven years working on Gibson Kente's productions Can You Take It, Laduma, Lobola, Take It Easy Papa and She Fears The Nite. He also collaborated with Thomas Mogolane (of the internationally acclaimed film Mapantsula) and Alf Sibane, creating two shows entitled The Roof and We are Mad. Louis then moved to the Market Theatre in Johannesburg where he toured internationally with Woza Albert for which he received a Vita Award for Most Promising New Actor. Other productions for the Market Theatre include, Black and White Follies, Ubu, Small-holding, It's Storytime-Amabali, Lakutshon 'Langa and Baby come Duze. For Handspring Puppet Company he performed the role of Woyzeck in Woyzeck on the Highveld and appeared in Faustus In Africa, Ubu and the Truth Commission and Il Ritorno d'Ulisse. He has also appeared in Spider's Place, Handspring's science project for television and radio. His film credits include Mapantsula, Sarafina!, Friends, Taxi to Soweto, Going Back, and Cry the Beloved Country.

TAU QWELANE, puppeteer   Began his performance career as a singer and songwriter with a band called Friends. He began working as a puppeteer with Handspring in 1994. He has worked on their productions of Woyzeck on the Highveld, Faustus in Africa, The Chimp Project, Ubu and the Truth Commission, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, Zeno at 4am and Confessions as puppeteer and puppet-maker. He also worked on a Puppets Against Aids project with Arret Puppet Company in their production Kid Glove. He has also worked as a translator, actor and technical assistant in theatre and film.

FOURIE NYAMANDE, puppeteer   From Sebokeng in Vereeniging, Nyamande's acting career started with Skhwenene Dhlamini's productions of Reaping the Whirlwind and Faces of Madiba in 1994 and 1995. In 1997/98 he studied drama at the Market Theatre Laboratory. His first work with Handspring was on The Chimp Project in 2000 and he has subsequently worked on their productions Zeno at 4am and Confessions.

LEIGH COLOMBICK, stage manager   Leigh first worked with Handspring during her period as stage manager at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg between 1989 and 1993, when she stage-managed Starbrites. She has since worked with Handspring on The Chimp Project, Zeno at 4 am and Confessions of Zeno. For the past nine years she has been free-lancing in a variety of capacities, touring productions internationally and has been associated with the following productions: The Magnet Theatre's The Shows Not Over 'Till the Fat Lady Sings, Sue Pam and DJ Grant's Take the Floor, Athol Fugard's Valley Song and Captains Tiger, Gcina Mhlophe's Love Child and Waves and Tales, Mandla Langa's Milestones and Yael Farber's productions of SeZaR and He Left Quietly.

SIMON MAHONEY, sound engineer   Has worked extensively in the theatre, film and television studio on sound. His live theatre experience includes engineering sound for the Handspring/Kentridge productions Faustus in Africa!, Ubu and the Truth Commission, Zeno at 4 am, Confessions of Zeno and Handspring’s production The Chimp Project. He has also engineered sound for musicals such as A Chorus Line and Fiddler on the Roof.

RAJESH GOPIE, puppeteer   A talented actor and playwright, his play, Out of Bounds premiered at Johannesburg's Market Theatre where it earned him an award and went on to play to audiences in Durban and Grahamstown. His work includes a spell in the ever popular soap opera, Generations, a role in the short film Skidmarks for M-Net, performing in and assistant directing Mahatma vs. Ghandi at the Playhouse in Durban. He played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet at Maynardville in Cape Town and performed in Ronnie Govender's acclaimed Back to the Faith. He also performed in As You Like It, Pinter Sketches, Our Country's Good and Caucasian Chalk Circle. Gopie performed another original one-hander, From Inside Out at the University of Salamanca in Spain.

YVETTE COETZEE, puppeteer   Yvette completed a combined BA & Bilingual Performer's Diploma in Speech and drama, both with distinction, at the University of Cape Town in 1999. The Chimp Project was her first professional production. She lives and works in Berlin and is working on her first solo production which incorporates puppets.

LESLIE FONG, actor, puppeteer   Started working professionally in theatre for the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal in 1981. He worked with luminaries such as Leonard Schach in After the Fall and Royal Hunt of the Sun, Professor Robert Mohr in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Louis van Niekerk's Die Krismis van Map Jacobs, in which he played the lead and was nominated for the DALRO best Actor Award. In 1983 he toured internationally with The Island, written by Athol Fugard for the South African Theatre Organisation. He then went on to work in Theatre In Education on productions such as Shakespeare's Henry IV, Michael Gelderon's Barbacus and worked with Dr Ben de Haak in puppet theatre. This was followed by Anatomie Titus, fall of Rome, an adaptation by Heiner Muller for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the Fleur de Cap Award, Die Koggelaar, directed by Dieter Reible, Windprints, King Lear, Hou Jou Bek, Moby Dick and Titus Andronicus for the Market Theatre Company. His feature film credits include Free Fall and Sentinel and his work in television includes Honeytown, Konings, Jackpot and Isidingo. He has worked with Handspring on Faustus in Africa.

CATHERINE MEYBURGH, video editor   Has worked with Handspring and William Kentridge on a range of multi-media productions, including Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, Ubu and the Truth Commission and Confessions of Zeno. She edited Kentridge's Stereoscope - an animated film produced for his exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1999.  She also edited Portrait of a Young Man Drowning for Tebogo Mahlatsi, which won the short film competition at the Venice Film Festival in 1999 and she has edited the acclaimed Yizo-Yizo drama series which appeared on SABC television and which won various awards at the Avanti Award ceremony in 1999.

GERHARD MARX, video animation   Gerhard Marx received his Fine Arts degree from The Michaelis School of Fine Art, at the University of Cape Town, in 1998, where he twice received the Michaelis Award. Since his graduation he has had two solo exhibitions and has participated in numerous group exhibitions. His involvement with the theatre started with the Handspring Puppet Company on The Chimp Project in 2000. Since then he has been involved in many theatrical projects, mostly in collaboration with Lara Foot Newton. These include the 2001 production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and A Streetcar Named Desire (2002). Gerhard is currently enrolled for his Masters degree at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he is also a part-time lecturer.

NADYA COHEN, set designer   Completed an honours degree in theatre design in Wimbledon in England and has since designed sets for many South African productions. These include Diepe Grond and Nag Generaal (with Lucille Gillward), Scenes From An Execution, Kafka Dances, and Doll's House (with Clare Stopford), Carmen (with Marthinus Basson), Fall Of The House Of Usher and The Consul (with Michael Williams), Kindertransport (with Barbara Rubin), Smallholding, Making Like America and Fordsburg's Finest (with Paul Slabolepszy), People Are Living There (with Dorothy-Anne Gould), Waiting For Godot and Search For Signs (with Maralin van Reenen), Boesman And Lena and Nongogo (with Jerry Mofokeng).

HAZEL MAREE, costumes   Hazel Maree graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine art from the University of Pretoria in 1982 and completed a cutting course at Fashion Design and Management in Johannesburg before her involvement in theatre. She has designed, created and coordinated costumes for the Market Theatre, the SABC and the Civic and Wits Theatres.  She has also worked on several musical productions, including Juke Box at the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg. Her work with handspring includes Woyzeck on the Highveld, Faustus in Africa and The Chimp Project.

Thanks to:   Christo Boshoff, who created the original design for the website.   Wesley France, Simon Mahoney and Leigh Colombick for originally facilitating the website.   Fred de Jager of Vgallery for getting the website up and running and helping to maintain it.

15a Clairvaux Road, Kalk Bay 7975 Cape Town, South Africa. Tel +27 21 788-8233 Fax +27 21 788-8234

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