From the Zen term, the best translation for ‘yugen’ is beauty which is felt.
In Japanese Noh Theatre yugen is your essence of being – the core from which an actor performs.
It was the feeling of beauty that attracted me to the word. When you look at a sunset or anything of beauty it is the feeling inside that is your ‘yugen’.
I wanted to create quality shows that would feel beautiful to an audience. I wanted to suspend disbelief in good puppet manipulation, create magic in the animated shadow images and tell stories that took the viewer to other worlds.
Over the years I have developed my own unique style of puppet storytelling. I spend a lot of time on the design of each puppet. I like to carve heads and use driftwood for arms and legs. I want each puppet to move as freely as possible. I want my puppets to be of high quality and objects of beauty.
In doing a puppet show you must allow your puppets to do what you cannot do, otherwise why not use actors? The puppet has its own unique aesthetic: it can fly, float, disappear and re-appear, command its place within a space. Puppetry is a wonderful visual theatre.
Living and working in Scotland it seemed only right to dedicate the company to re-telling stories from Scotland’s rich heritage of myths, legends and tales.