Adrian Kohler

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KOHLER, Adriaan/Adrian. (19**-) Artist, designer, dancer, dramatist, puppeteer. * He trained in fine art at the University of?*. Worked for The Space in the 1970s. There he had a role in the dance production The Family. Designed Endgame, Mixed Doubles, Old King Cole, Patrick Pearse Motel, Tsafendas and You’ll Come (chuckle) to Love Your ????? (snigger) Test.

Wrote, made the puppets, directed and performed in Gertie’s Feathers. Was a teacher for a while then worked with the theatre for development group Laedza Banani in Botswana. In 1981 he became a co-founder of the Handspring Puppet Company (with Basil Jones, Jill Faubet and Joe Weinberg ). They moved into full-scale theatre puppetry with a landmark production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oude Libertas Theatre, Stellenbosch, 198*), directed by Esther van Rsywyk. **. * In the 1990s his collaborations with as designer/director William Kentridge led to combined the widely celebrated productions of Woyzeck on the Highveld (1992), Faustus in Africa (1995), Ubu and the Truth Commission (1997) and the opera Il Ritorno d’Ulisse (“The Return of Ullyses”), which premiéred at the celebrated Kusten Festival des Artes in Brussels in 1998. He and Jones went on to do The Chimp Project (1999?*) and Tall Horse (2004). In these multi-media shows the company combine live actors, puppet and film footage. The puppets used for Faustus in Africa (designed by William Kentridge and made by Kohler and company**??) have since been housed in the *** museum in Berlin. In 2000 won the Fleur du Cap Award for Best Constribution to Stage Design for The Chimp Project.

KOHLER, Adrian. He was part of the Handspring Puppet Company which made the gull puppets for Robert Hewett’s Gulls which Keith Grenville directed in 1987/1988. He and Basil Jones made puppets for Barney Simon’s Starbrites which was staged at the Market Theatre in September 1990. ***(****, Tucker, 1997)


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