Oliver Hymans

Little Angels Studio

Puppet maker

©Oliver Hymans

The modern puppeteer

Oliver makes puppets to tell stories about human beings and their conditions
He mixes traditional wood carving techniques with other mixed media such as fabrics and paint
His puppetry styles vary depending on whether they are to be used for stage or screen

Oliver Hymans, a scenography graduate from Central Saint Martin’s College, first entered the puppetry world when working for the British puppetry company Blind Summit. He later worked for the renowned Little Angel Theatre which he proudly helps run today. Mostly self-taught over the past 15 years, Oliver makes puppets of different styles including table top, rod, shadow, multiple-person and large-scale puppets for art performances on stage and on screen. A Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust scholarship enabled him to learn the endangered heritage craft of marionette making from the last remaining UK masters. “I feel it is my responsibility to keep this wonderful craft thriving,” he says. Oliver was recently selected for the Homo Faber Fellowship, which in turn allows him to transmit his craft to the next generation.

Interview

©Oliver Hymans

©Oliver Hymans

How would you describe the world of puppetry?: Puppetry is rich in that it merges performing arts and visual arts, demanding an appreciation for both the quality of movement in an object through its performance, whilst also providing the maker with multiple design challenges and interrogations.
What inspired you to make puppets professionally?: Being taken to see the National Theatre’s production of War Horse in 2007 by my grandmother was pivotal. Seeing how the horses, which were deceptively simple and stylised puppets, could act as the protagonists in a theatre production was a new phenomenon for me.
What skills are specifically needed for string puppet making?: To make string puppets, also called marionettes, I use traditional techniques and skills such as drafting and designing the marionette on paper, then translating the design to wood with carving and jointing. Then there is stringing, and, of course, performing with the puppet.
Could you share a surprising facet of puppet making?: A puppet needs to be indestructible. Once a puppet is made in the studio, I ask my team to try and break it! Puppets get a decent work out during the run of a show so we need the puppet to be as robust as possible to avoid having to have regular maintenance.

Oliver Hymans is a master artisan: he began his career in 2010 and he started teaching in 2013