Firstly, this picture is the only spoiler you're getting, and only because it's been officially published on the One Way UK Facebook page
As one of only two "first year" members of the puppet academy team this year I was perhaps understandably quite apprehensive coming into this week. Would I get on with the team? What place am I going to have in an already well established group? and the biggest question on my mind: Am I good enough to be here?
Academy has surprised me in many ways. 18 hour days? Psh... saw that coming (apparently most new applicants don't?). Quantity of sweets on offer? Well maybe a little, I heard there were usually a lot of treats involved - especially skittles - but we must have had literally about 40-50 bags of assorted goodies, and that's before you include biscuits (and I am really really sorry about the oreos...). Seeing them all on the table was quite something...
Probably the biggest thing that surprised me about academy though is that we're really all just people. Having attended the European festival now every year since 2013 I'm not sure I could name a year where the Friday night showcase wasn't the highlight of the event, simply because it pushes the boundaries of what you think should be possible. People look up to the academy team because what they do is just so different to what you normally see, and they're usually the first people to show off new things, whether puppets, props or in some cases entirely new and incredibly powerful ways of performing (the obvious one here being dowel rods). Because of this I think it's really easy to look at the academy showcase and think that it's something unattainable, something you could never achieve or even live up to, an impossible standard. I came into the academy week having not done a serious puppet project since Christmas (technically it was blacklight, so not really puppets... video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM_k2tfGrQI) absolutely terrified I wasn't going to be able to keep up with everything going on and that I couldn't ever reach the level of the bar I had set for academy in my head.
It was incredibly strange then, to discover fairly early on that the thing I had been looking up to for so long was now not only within reach, but remarkably similar to what I had been doing anyway.
There's a quote I really like which seems appropriate here:
"What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person"
Yep, that one is from Paper Towns (John Green). Almost certainly my favourite book of all time, and I've been trying to get this quote into a blog since I started, so this probably makes me far too happy... Anyway...
If you've not read Paper Towns (well first you should read paper towns...) this particular quote is from the thoughts of main character Q trying to figure out the motivation of Margo Roth Spiegelman, a girl who has gone missing and whom he (and basically everyone else) has been idolising. This one line completely changes your perspective on things, when you realise that we're all just human beings. Unique but ultimately the same, with our own thoughts, dreams, hobbies and lives. (seriously read the book right now it makes a lot more sense... or I suppose you could watch the film but it's not as good...)
The thing about academy is, we are but mere mortals. Even the best of us make mistakes, and sometimes stuff just doesn't work, no matter what you try and throw at it. One particular song we did (and no I'm not telling...) had an ending that went through probably 5 or 6 iterations and took the best part of 3 days to figure out, because it just seemed like nothing we did made sense. Of course having been through that process we now have an absolutely insane ending you guys will love, but without having experienced the joys of creating it it would be really easy to miss just how much effort went into that one move. The academy team aren't superhumans, we're just people who love puppets and want to put on a good show. It's a lot of work, but it's 100% achievable if you've got the passion to follow it through. It's a learning experience. I've done things I never would have believed I was capable of doing this week, and I'm just so incredibly hyped to keep going and raising the bar with my team back home.
The other thing that surprised me about academy though was just how easy it was to come out of my shell and be myself. So much so that I actually had to redefine what I thought I meant by that (it's complicated). I'm about as introverted an introvert as introverts get, someone who avoids social interaction like the plague where possible, and I'm not sure I could name another person or group or people that I'm even anywhere near as comfortable around as the people on the academy team. That's just crazy to me since up until I arrived in Claxby I had only ever even spoken to one of them once (3 years ago when he knocked me out of the lip sync challenge... yeah...) and normally it takes me much longer to get to the point of feeling able to reveal my true self. I suppose a lot of that is really due to the fact that probably for the first time ever, I had found a group of like minded people. I was no longer the Anomaly, I was the Entity. I was me. Wholly and completely, without needing masks or walls to hide behind, and I would be lying if I were to say that it didn't make me seriously reconsider what I wanted to do with my life. The thing with being with a group of people with such specific shared interests is you get the sense that you have so much in common that nothing is too awkward and you can just be yourself . Maybe I'm crazy, but the whole thing feels like we're really just one big slightly insane family, and I LOVE it.
I applied to academy this year largely because I was so inspired by the 2014 showcase and all the awesome and boundary shattering performances the academy has been able to put together every year. 2014 was a special year though because not only did it have probably two of (what I think at least) were probably the greatest songs in the entire history of academy: Victor's Crown and Hope of Glory (Toobies on trampolines). My team "Extreme Puppets" also managed to place third in the open competition that year with our entry "Jonah Jazz" which some of you might remember for this moment:
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| Pictures from One Way UK EPMF 2014 |
Maybe it was just the sheer ridiculousness of the fact I literally threw a puppet Jonah overboard, but it became one of our team's most memorable performances, and made what was already an incredible year into an unforgettable one, anyway I digress...
You're probably wondering at this point, why if I was so inspired by the 2014 showcase, I only actually applied for academy in 2017...
I often wonder the same thing...
As of writing this blog, I am currently 19 years old. I could have applied for 2015 academy if I had wanted to, so why didn't I?
I wish I could come up with an elaborate story of why I couldn't have gone for it back then, with fully explained diagrams detailing exactly what I was doing at every second that meant I couldn't possibly have made it to academy that year.
The truth though is I didn't apply because I was afraid. Afraid of going by myself and afraid I wasn't even good enough to be accepted onto the team in the first place. After all, if you have no hope of succeeding, then why bother trying... and so the application form lay on my desk uncompleted as I took the path of least resistance.
That may just have been one of the biggest mistakes I ever made...
I stand here now, in the weeks after academy, and I can honestly and genuinely say that Academy 2017 has been one of the best things I have ever done, second only to my decision to become a Christian at Soul Survivor 2012 (which I took another 3 years to actually act on). I would be lying if I were to say that that it didn't make me seriously reconsider what I wanted to do with my life.
When I applied for academy this year, I had absolutely no idea that it was the tenth year of academy, or that we were going to bring back a song from another year, so when the poll came out and it became clear that we would be bringing back Victor's Crown. *THE* song that inspired me to apply in the first place, I was incredibly excited, but also extremely nervous. Living up to the original seemed like an impossible task, because the song itself is just so incredibly powerful and it touched so many people when it was first performed in a way that is difficult to simply recreate. What we've got looks incredible, but only time will tell us whether we have succeeded in what we set out to do...
I joked with a couple of people while writing this that I wasn't sure how I was going to make it not be an essay, and I think I've completely failed in that respect, so to close, here are a few dos and don'ts worth considering if you're looking to potentially apply to join academy in the future:
DOs and DO NOTs
DO NOT apply for academy if you...:
- Are seriously concerned you won't be able to function on what from my personal experience is typically 6 to 7 hours sleep (I managed fine but probably coped better than most as a uni student who has a weird sleeping pattern anyway)
- Are in any way averse to puppets
On the other hand, most definitely DO apply for academy if you...:
- Want an absolutely amazing week
- Are reasonably confident with lip sync and arm rods
- Are looking to develop your skills and grow as a person and as a puppeteer
- Enjoy performing as part of a group, whether behind a screen or otherwise
- Like the idea of trying new things and are excited by the thought of pushing the boundaries of what is and isn't possible
- Want to work in a close team to produce something seriously AWESOME!
- Want to build lifelong friendships and connect with like minded people
- Want to develop your faith and most importantly...
- Love puppets!
I really wish I could tell you guys more, but the showcase is top secret and to reveal anything more than I have written here would be to breach confidentiality, so I'll end by saying It's been one heck of a week but oh my goodness it's going to be EPIC!
Hope to see you there!
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