The awards were presented by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, founders of the Handspring Puppet Company, who announced the new awards last week at the launch of this year's festival. Speaking from the Baxter Theatre stage at the festival opening, Jones said that in recent years, puppetry had grown in local theatre and so had a “greater understanding of the nature of the puppet theatre”. “We are in possession of a clearer set of analytical tools when we come to ‘critiquing' new works in the theatre,” he continued. Kohler added that this is not shared by everyone. “All too often,”, he said, “when one reads a review of a new puppet piece, it begins with the words: ‘If you thought puppets were only for children … ', which unfortunately sets the discourse at a pretty basic level. Public debate about what puppets offer to the theatre is thin. The often-asked question: ‘Why puppets?' needs vigorous and thoughtful answers. We seldom get them. What, for instance, is the difference between a human actor on the stage and a puppet of a human? We believe there is a very significant difference, which is connected to the fact that only the puppet has to fight and struggle to live, whereas an actor can take this struggle for granted.”
Apart from stimulating broader debate on puppetry, the company also aims to raise the quality of this theatre-making genre with its annual contest. Five awards with R7000 prize money per winner will be available annually. With the exception of the award for Best Production, only people from Africa will be eligible for the awards. This year is the first of five annual competitions. The first three years would honour exclusively the best works - with prize money - at Out The Box. Thereafter, the awards would be open to any persons producing puppet theatre in the Western Cape.
