Cariad Astles
Lecturer (E&S)
2332
01392 722332
Overview
I trained in Drama at Exeter University and then as a puppeteer as an apprentice to Travesura Theatre, run by Chilean exiles in London; I took several short courses in puppetry at the International Institut de la Marionnette in France and in the UK. I then worked as a performer/puppeteer for several years at the Little Angel Theatre, with Sue Buckmaster of Theatre Rites and with Puppetcraft among other companies. I have directed puppetry for a number of companies and shows including Pericles and Eva Luna for Wooden Tongues Theatre Company, The Pied Piper and Tristan and Isolde for Puppetcraft, Macbeth for the Northcott Theatre and The Walk for Med Theatre. I have run numerous puppetry training workshops in the UK, Australia, Brazil, Spain and China, focusing on training for the puppeteer-performer and on intercultural training practices. I also work with the Catalan-based collective Irènia (www.irenia.net), a group of artists and educators working on themes of peace, development and global education. With this group I have run training workshops in puppetry for peace education and development in Tunisia and Catalonia.
Apart from puppetry and object theatre, I teach applied drama, with a particular focus on health; I also teach Latin American performance and culture in performance.
I am a UK councillor for the international puppetry association, UNIMA, and a member of the Research Commission and the Commission for Cooperation. I have previously received awards from the Anna Lindh Foundation for the work with Irenia, which received a United Nations Intercultural Innovation Award for its work. I have also received funding from the AHRC for work on applied puppetry and funding from the Gulbenkian Foundation for the development of puppetry in live performance.
I am currently the director of CROPP – the Centre for Research into Objects and Puppets in Performance.
I was keynote speaker at the Yangzhou national puppetry conference in China, 2015
I am a member of PSI, Puppeteers UK, the IFTR and the South West Arts and Health board.
Research
- Puppetry training
- Puppetry as cultural identity
- Political puppetry
- Applied puppetry
- Latin American women’s performance
- Latin American religious performance and religion in performance
- Latin American popular performance
- Applied theatre in health
Catalan Visual Theatre
This focus of research explores the emergence of Catalan visual theatre over the last forty years in response to the political events within Catalonia and the new vocabularies and languages of theatre forged through attempts to re-negotiate Catalan identity and culture. There is a particular emphasis on spectacle and puppetry. Research focuses on a number of companies and practitioners, including Joan Baixas, Els Comediants and La Fura dels Baus.
Publications and presentations:
- 2010: (forthcoming): ‘Shadows and Objects’ in Butterflying Barcelona, University of Wales Press, ed. Helena Buffery
- 2009: ‘Dancing Giants and Bigheads: Processions and Puppets in Catalonia’, Animated Advances, ed Dorothy Max Prior
- 2009: ‘Barcelona: Earth, Puppets and Embodiment’ in Performance, Embodiment and Cultural Memory, eds Roberta Mock and Colin Counsell
- 2008: ‘Absent Bodies and Objects’ ; talk given to conference ‘Contemporary Barcelona: Visual Cultures, Spaces and Power’, March 13 – 14
- 2007: ‘Catalan puppet theatre: a process of cultural affirmation’, in Contemporary Theatre Review 17: 3, ed. Maria Delgado and Lourdes Orozco
- 1998: ‘Lorca the puppeteer’, Garcia Lorca conference, Newcastle
Puppetry training and animation
This area of research examines and discusses what it means to be a puppeteer; defines and considers the techniques and skills of animation within interdisciplinary and multi-contextual environments and articulates new processes for developing an understanding of the anthropology of the puppeteer.
Publications and presentations:
- 2010: Masterclass in Directing for Puppetry, Belgrade, Serbia
- 2010: Residency grant at the Institut International de la Marionnette
- 2010: ‘Directing on the Puppet Stage’, Central School of Speech and Drama
- 2010: ‘Puppetry Training in Contemporary Live Theatre’ in Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, ed. Simon Murray & Jonathan Pitches
- 2009: ‘Training in Puppet Theatre’, University of Evora
- 2009: ‘Wood and Waterfall: Puppetry training and its anthropology in Performance Research: On Training, 14.2, ed. Richard Gough & Simon Shepherd
- 2008: ‘Alternative Puppet Bodies’ in Moin-Moin, ed. UNIMA Brazil
- 2007: ‘Collaborations between things and disciplines’, Tournai, Belgium
- 2007: Round table: ‘What can the puppet teach the actor?’ Central School of Speech and Drama
Latin American popular performance
This area focuses on questions of identity in performance, in particular in relation to Cuban and Brazilian puppetry, applied theatre practices and popular performance.
Publications and presentations:
- 2010: ‘Puppetry and Dialogism’, presentation to IDEA conference, Belem, Brazil
- 2009: ‘African spectacle within Cuban theatre’ in African Theatre Journal, ed. Osita Okagbue
- 2000: ‘The Masks of Sor Juana’, presentation to Latin American theatre conference, Kansas, USA
Publications
Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2010 | 2009 | 2007 | 2006 | 2003 |
2021
- Astles C. (2021) The return of the puppetress / sorceress, itw im dialog, volume 5, pages 206-215, DOI:10.16905/itwid.2021.17.
- Astles C, Piragibe M. (2021) Experiências de treinamento no ciberespaço e processos de criação em isolamento social, Móin-Móin Revista de estudos sobre teatro de formas animadas, volume 1, no. 24, pages 19-33, DOI:10.5965/2595034701242021019.
- Astles C. (2021) Training experiences in cyberspace and creative processes in social isolation, Móin-Móin Revista de estudos sobre teatro de formas animadas, volume 1, no. 24, pages 34-47, DOI:10.5965/2595034701242021034.
2020
- Astles C, Fisher E, Purcell-Gates L, Sextou P. (2020) Editorial, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, volume 11, no. 1-2, pages 3-13, DOI:10.1386/jaah_00014_2.
- Astles C. (2020) Walk in/walk as my shoes: Puppetry and prosocial empathy in healthcare, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, volume 11, no. 1-2, pages 29-47, DOI:10.1386/jaah_00016_1.
- Fisher E, Astles C. (2020) Puppet theatre under COVID-19, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, volume 11, no. 1-2, pages 163-170, DOI:10.1386/jaah_00029_7.
- Astles C. (2020) Collaborations between surgery and puppetry: Rachel Warr, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, volume 11, no. 1-2, pages 177-180, DOI:10.1386/jaah_00031_7.
- Astles C. (2020) Puppets, women and health in Togo: An interview with Vicky Tsikplonou, Togo, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, volume 11, no. 1-2, pages 185-188, DOI:10.1386/jaah_00033_7.
- Astles C. (2020) The Unima Research Commission, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, volume 11, no. 1-2, pages 197-199, DOI:10.1386/jaah_00036_5.
- Astles C, Fisher E, Purcell-Gates L, Sextou P. (2020) Broken Puppet Symposia, Journal of Applied Arts and Health, volume 11, no. 1-2, pages 200-207, DOI:10.1386/jaah_00037_5.
- Tsaplina M, Astles C. (2020) Puppetry, The Routledge Companion to Health Humanities, 296-301.
2019
- Astles C, Piragibe M. (2019) Nove questões sobre o ensino de direção para Teatro de Bonecos: Uma re-criação-trans-crita de um diálogo, Móin-Móin Revista de estudos sobre teatro de formas animadas, volume 2, no. 21, pages 402-431, DOI:10.5965/2595034702212019402.
- Astles C, Piragibe M. (2019) Nine questions on teaching directing for puppet theatre: a trans-cripting-re-creation of a dialogue, Móin-Móin Revista de estudos sobre teatro de formas animadas, volume 2, no. 21, pages 432-457, DOI:10.5965/2595034702212019432.
- Mello A, Orenstein C, Astles C. (2019) Women and puppetry: Critical and historical investigations, DOI:10.4324/9781315225999.
- Astles C. (2019) Women practitioners speak, Women and Puppetry: Critical and Historical Investigations, 141-142.
2018
- Astles C. (2018) “Corpos” Alternativos de Bonecos, Móin-Móin Revista de estudos sobre teatro de formas animadas, volume 1, no. 05, pages 051-061, DOI:10.5965/2595034701052008051.
- Astles C. (2018) Alternative Puppet ‘Bodies’, Móin-Móin Revista de estudos sobre teatro de formas animadas, volume 1, no. 05, pages 062-068, DOI:10.5965/2595034701052008062.
- Astles C. (2018) Tradição e inovação: provocações, Urdimento - Revista de Estudos em Artes Cênicas, volume 2, no. 32, pages 048-055, DOI:10.5965/1414573102322018048.
- Astles C. (2018) Tradition and innovation: provocations, Urdimento - Revista de Estudos em Artes Cênicas, volume 2, no. 32, pages 048-055, DOI:10.5965/1414573102322018048b.
2017
- Astles C. (2017) Puppetry and the Spanish Civil War, War and Theatrical Innovation, Springer Nature, 63-80, DOI:10.1057/978-1-137-60225-1_4.
- Astles C. (2017) Puppet theatre as response to dictatorship in Catalonia and Chile, Theatre and Dictatorship in the Luso-Hispanic World, 126-139, DOI:10.4324/9781315405100.
2016
- Astles C. (2016) Swazzles of subversion: Puppets under dictatorship, Performing (for) Survival: Theatre, Crisis, Extremity, 103-120, DOI:10.1057/9781137454270_6.
2010
- Astles C. (2010) Puppetry training for contemporary live theatre, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, volume 1, no. 1, pages 22-35, DOI:10.1080/19443920903478513.
2009
- Astles C. (2009) Wood and waterfall: Puppetry training and its anthropology, Performance Research, volume 14, no. 2, pages 54-59, DOI:10.1080/13528160903319521.
2007
- Astles C. (2007) Catalan puppet theatre: A process of cultural affirmation, Contemporary Theatre Review, volume 17, no. 3, pages 323-334, DOI:10.1080/10486800701411295.
2006
- Astles C. (2006) 'Other' Spanish theatres: Erasure and inscription on the Spanish stage, THEATRE RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL, volume 31, no. 2, pages 206-207, DOI:10.1017/S0307883306262060. [PDF]
2003
- Astles C. (2003) Puppet theatre and child rights, Cultures and settlements: Advances in Art and Urban Futures Volume 3, 121-132.
Teaching
- Puppet theatre; training; performance; directing; applied puppetry and puppetry and object theatre theory and history
- Latin American theatre
- Applied Theatre