In the weeks building up to the end of our Kickstarter campaign for Beauty and the Beast (http://kck.st/WL7sBo), there will be a series of posts introducing you to members of our wonderful creative team. This week, we’re talking to Joy Haynes, producer of Beauty and the Beast and the creative director of Norwich Puppet Theatre.
Introductory Blurb: Joy Haynes, director of the Norwich Puppet Theatre, has been working with puppets since 1987. She’s first joined the Norwich Puppet Theatre in 1990 as a puppeteer – from there, she performed and directed puppetry shows all over the country for 18 years to great acclaim with her own company Banyan Theatre Co, and acted as an educator in the medium, before achieving the post of the theatre’s director. Acting as a producer on Beauty and the Beast, we spoke to her about her role in creating this new spin of an old tale, and about puppetry as a medium.
Q1) What is your role as a ‘producer’?
I made the initial contact with Gavin Glover (the director of the show) to discuss his interest or not in the project. We did actually put in an application to the arts council as part of a broader development programme for a phase of research & development for Beauty and the Beast, so I suppose my main role as the show’s producer is to make sure the money is in place for the production. The first stage of R&D happened in 2012, and we had a team of artists including Gavin and Tilly Lunken (the show’s writer) – they are the remaining people who are now involved in the project. We then went through another phase of fundraising, putting in another application to the Arts Council for funding through the ‘Grants for Arts’ programme and also we had to find match funding from various trusts and foundations, and we made partnerships with other organisations. We currently have a partnership with The Garage in Norwich, working with their senior theatre company where members of the creative team go with some of our workshop leaders out to the Garage to work with young people around the issues of Beauty and the Beast, experimenting with using puppetry as a theatrical medium. Hopefully, their project will run in parallel with the production process here and they will be able to see and engage with the rehearsal process while developing their own piece.
So I suppose my job is about developing the engagement right from the very beginning with the artists, building a financial framework for it to work in and contacting people to form partnerships to develop themes and other aspects for the production.
Q2) How involved were you in the process of crafting the Beauty and the Beast story?
I was quite involved, and happily quite involved. I worked with Tilly and Gavin over a three day period – there had been quite a lot of work already done during the first stage of research and development and I was not particularly involved there, but I did contribute towards the development of the narrative over time.
Q3) What can we expect from the show?
Well I think it’s going to be a really interesting interpretation of a classic tale. There will be some surprises, some new interpretations; it will be stylistically very interesting as there’s a very strong design component to the show. We’re using rod marionettes and Norwich Puppet Theatre’s very unique marionette bridge facility as we’re one of the very few theatres in England who has one; we’ll be using it not necessarily in a traditional way but it will be used for the first time in a very long time, being directly incorporated into the design.
The relationship between the puppets and puppeteers will be interesting as the puppeteers will be performers in their own right, using the puppets to tell this 20th century Beauty and the Beast, set in the 1920s and 30s, a time of real extremes between the depression and the ‘roaring 20s’. Communications were starting to happen globally, people were travelling, there were balloons and aeroplanes which was very exciting; that’s the world in which this Beauty and the Beast is set. But it’s also a very human story; it’s about the perceptions that people have of how close you have to conform to ideas of beauty within a modern society, and what it takes to be beautiful; but also what it takes to be beastly, and how those things co-exist.
Q4) How did the modern twist on an old classic come to be?
I think it came about because in part of my role as a producer I posed a question to the artists at the very beginning about relationships between the story of Beauty and the Beast and films like King Kong, or the Hunchback of Notre Dame or La Belle et la Bete – these are all versions of Beauty and the Beast, but they’re all very very different from what you’d probably expect from a classic Beauty and the Beast story, and they’re very reflective of their time; they kind of explore through the fairytale issues that are relevant to their time.
So, while we’re not in the 1920’s, I think there’s a lot that started in that time that there’s still a residue of now, particularly to do with the beauty industry and celebrity and all of those things; that’s where it all sort of started, so it’s still relevant to us now. I think it was a very iconic time for visual imagery as well, and I think that’s exciting, but also music, so Hannah Marshall who is composing the score is quite inspired by the music of that time. So it’s sort of using the ethos and the style and making it a contemporary retelling.
Q5) The 35th anniversary of the Norwich Puppet Theatre is coming up! How does it feel to be director of the theatre on this milestone year?
It’s very exciting, really, to have made it this far! And let’s hope we have another good 35 years ahead of us! It is a milestone in our history, and what’s great about Beauty and the Beast is that it reflects that history as well; we’re using traditional aspects of puppetry like the bridge, looking at rod marionettes and how they’re constructed but putting a new twist on it all. So it’s all about bringing the old and the new together, and it’s about respecting and looking back at our history and all the people who contributed to the theatre and where it is today, but also looking forwards to what our future will be.
Q6) Why is NPT’s Beauty and the Beast a good alternative to the old fashioned pantomime?
Well, it’s cheap! I’m not saying cheap and nasty – I’m saying cheap and really really good. We are a very affordable, fantastic Christmas experience for families; it’s very very expensive for people to go and experience live theatre at the moment, and I think we try our utmost to make it as affordable as we can. So what we need is people to come and see it! So that we are supported and that we are able to do this. Plus, we are a unique space.
You won’t find another space like this probably in the whole of the UK; there is another puppet theatre in London but you have to go an awfully long way away. So for local audiences it’s a unique and wonderful experience; it’s more friendly than going to a bigger theatre or seeing a pantomime in that it’s distinct and more about us and smaller, more intimate experience. So coming here for Christmas, you’re not lost in a crowd; you’re an individual part of our audience, and I think that is special. There’s an awful lot on offer now for people and what we need to demonstrate that we are something truly special, and I think we can do that.
Q7) Why should people back the Kickstarter fund?
I’d say it’s a really good opportunity for people to contribute to something very unique and special. We’re offering all sorts of rewards, but it’s not just about that; it’s about feeling that you have contributed yourself to the development of a very special piece of theatre, and also contributed to Norwich Puppet Theatre and the work we do here. It’s about our audiences as well because your contribution means we are able to reach as many audiences as we can, offering reasonable prices; we are able to bring in puppeteers with very specialised skills so we can pay for them to make the puppets and the set. There’s a very direct relationship between the support that we are given for our Kickstarter campaign and what is actually happening. For instance, we have a budget for materials for puppets which is £2,000 – which is what we are asking for! It really is about being able to buy the materials that construct the stars and make the show so special.
Behind the Scenes 