In our profile series, Tell Us In Ten, we ask cast members and creatives of top London shows to tell us all about themselves in just 10 questions. From how they got their start in the industry to their favourite shows, we want to know everything.
This time we’re chatting to Max Humphries who is the Puppet Designer for Dinosaur World Live – the award-winning interactive adventure for all the family – featuring the biggest and best dinosaur puppets live on stage.
1) My route into theatre was…
I’m from the woods in darkest Devon and there was really nothing to do but read, draw and make stuff, so I was 4 when I first said I wanted to make puppets when I grew up. I studied Theatre Design at RWCMD and then I decided to spend a year as a journeyman puppet maker, committing to not take a penny doing anything else. So I was semi-homeless and worked for food and a little cash, sleeping in workshops, until I made a name for myself. I recognise that’s not a path for everyone but I was happy learning as I went and doing what I love.
Now, with my collaborator Cheryl “Chuck” Brown, I’m co-head of Unit 9 Puppet Workshop, and I spend every day making puppets that have toured every continent in the world (except
Antarctica, I am still waiting on that call from McMurdo Station).
2) The thing I love most about my job is…
The camaraderie! I love my team and working everyday with Chuck, Charlie
Findlay and our team, making cool stuff, and then you team up with other cool people and their teams and everyone’s really good at what they do. Then you all do a show. It’s the best!
Good theatre isn’t about stars, it’s about company, that’s where the magic lies.
3) My favourite show from present or past (that isn’t one I have worked on) is…
I loved the Venus & Adonis the Little Angel did with the RSC in 2004, Lyndie Wright’s puppets are so beautiful. Warhorse gets a lot of credit for kickstarting the resurgence of British puppetry, but people forget how important that show was, it was the first time I’d seen the critics take a piece of puppetry seriously.
4) A misconception about my job is…
That puppets are objects, like props, when they are actually performers themselves.
5) The hardest part about my job is…
Balance, working out what you’re going to fight for, what you’re going to experiment with and where you’re going to rely on tried and tested methods. it’s long hours too.
6) The career moment I’m most proud of is…
That’s a hard question, and the answer isn’t from our Cirque Du Soleil show or Dinosaur World Live, it’s not even technically a puppet.
About 20 years ago Tom Scutt asked me to make a cork that pulls out of Simon Kuntz’ head for the final scene of Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats Of Loneliness at the Soho Theatre.
I handmade it out of brass and it was telescopic and had a magnetic valve to release blood when pulled. At the end of this very funny, moving show Gant takes his top hat off revealing the cork and the audience laughed at how funny an image it was, and then absolute pin-drop horror as he starts pulling and it keeps coming and blood starts pouring down his white dress shirt, the silence only broken by someone whispering a quiet “mother of God” in the back row.
Seeing everything coming together, the performance, the design, my mechanism, all of it in one electric moment. Nothing can touch the thrill of being part of that, God I love theatre!
7) On my days off I like to…
I’m not really a days off guy as I’m always thinking about what I’m making, but in my spare time I like to read, watch movies, hangout with my family and fix stuff.
8) My daily work rituals include…
A lot of what I do is mechanical design, and you have to get into the right headspace for that as it takes a lot of concentration, so after we’ve talked through everything as a team and everyone is set up I like to spend a few hours a day “in the zone”. I have a big red light over my desk that I turn on that lets everyone know my full attention is engaged elsewhere, and then I put on my headphones and knuckle down too the nuts and bolts of it all.
9) My inspiration is…
I take inspiration from absolutely everything, I’m a sponge, and I have a huge reference library so I’m always turning up to meetings with piles of books, but because I draw inspiration from everywhere in creative meetings, I’m just as likely to bring up Edward Gordon Craig’s 1908 essay on the Übermarionette as I am Madhouse’s Cyber City Oedo 808. Gotta keep ’em guessing!
10) The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is…
We make our own luck.
Get your tickets to see Dinosaur World Live now!
