We’re back from another visit at the stage workshop! For those of you who have no idea what we’re talking about - Stockholms Stadsteater (The Stockholm Municipal Theatre) is setting up a spin-off play based on our manga Kick Off, called “Meja i spökjägarnas sal” (”Meja in the Ghost Hunters’ Hall”). And not just any play, but a puppet show! With a little less than a month away from the premiere, we were invited to come check out the rehearsals.

Yosh and Kajfa in front of the Meja poster at Kulturhuset, Stockholm. Can you imagine how surprised we were when we first saw it?! We had no idea that it would get this blown up. Here’s hoping that it’s gotten people’s interest for the play!

The initial rehearsals are being done in this yellow house, in Parkteatern’s premises. Next week they’ll be moving to the Stadsteatern stages.

We suspect that we just timed the end of their lunch break when we arrived, which was fortunate! Before running through the points for today’s meeting, each of us warmed ourselves with a nice cup of tea.

We found a nice surprise on the table - someone had doodled one of those ghost targets Meja uses in her shooting practices on the sugar box!

Before beginning the rehearsals, we were shown the latest changes to the puppets - Jenny and Krille have hair on their heads now! Aren’t they just amazing?

Poor Andreas is the only one still remaining bald, but that doesn’t stop him from being his usual good-looking self. The puppet maker is thinking about whether to use real human hair or synthetic hair for his wig. We still get touched every time we think about all the love and care people put into making all this work.

This is how the temporary stage looks like. As we mentioned earlier, rehearsals will be moved to the real stage at Stadsteatern next week, where the space is bigger and airier. Though this stage serves as a nice pointer of how things will look like! Projections will be shown on the black screen in the back.

Aaand here we go! Here, Annika, Magnus and Andreas are acting out an action packed scene between Yoshiro (a new character written especially for the play) and Meja. Kay (who plays Chiko and Andreas) is preparing for her entrance in the back, while Helena (the art director) is standing in the front, directing the puppeteers. This scene had to be rehearsed several times, always with great, unending patience from the skilled puppeteers.

Andreas, Yoshiro and Meja. Imagine how amazing it feels just looking at the puppets standing still. Then imagine how much MORE overwhelming it is seeing them move! All the gestures, the minute details, the posture, the slight movement of the eyes… Everything is controlled by the puppeteers with such soulfoul feeling and skill that it leaves us speechless. They’re simply fantastic.

Soya and Kajfa aren’t looking very excited here, but they were watching with great concentration and were actually swept away by the great performance.

On this picture, we can see one of the ghost targets and part of the background set. Can you guess what kind of house that is?

Andreas and Meja in an emotional scene. Pay attention to the amount of feeling Kay and Andreas (the puppeteers) are putting into their acting.

We went to look at some of the behind-the-scenes material after the rehearsals. The naked trees really send chills down your spine don’t they? And there’s the keyhole we showed in the previous entry!

Andreas is contemplating over something, as usual.

And while Chiko is taking a siesta in his newly installed hammock…

… Jenny patiently waits for her turn on the stage.

And here we have them, the amazing puppeteers! From the left side, we have Magnus, Kay and Andreas (Annika had to leave early, which explains her absence). They’ve really gotten smitten by the Japanese culture and have even dressed up in black, ninja-like clothing complete with tabi socks! For those of you with an interest in Japanese theatre and old cinema, this might be reminiscent of the “invisible” stagehands called Kurogo. Anyway, these people (plus everybody else who have been working on the play) deserve a huge applause!

In the next sneak peek of “Meja i spökjägarnas sal”, we will report from the final rehearsals at Stockholms Stadsteater. Exciting times!

Yokaj Podcast
You can now follow the studio’s work with our podcast, which is broadcasted every Monday evening (Swedish only for now). Click here to listen!

Links
Sneak peek: Making of “Meja in the Ghost Hunters’ hall” part 3
Sneak peek: Making of “Meja in the Ghost Hunters’ hall” part 2
Sneak peek: Making of “Meja in the Ghost Hunters’ hall” part 1
Read more about “Meja in the Ghost Hunters’ Hall” at the Stockholm Municipal Theatre’s website (Swedish)
Visit Kick Off’s official website
Read our entry about Kick Off receiving the award for “Best comic 2008″ in Sweden.

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