Chapter Text
Scene One: Old Friends Who Just Met
“There’s not a word yet
For old friends who just met
Part Heaven, part Space
Or have I found my place...”
-The Muppet Movie
Tony Crowley checked the Soho address again. He wasn’t expecting his next puppetry gig to be at a bookshop.
But it seemed to be the right place. He saw in big gold letters on the side of the store, “Azi Fell and Co’s Puppet Theatre and Bookshop.”
The gig was to help with a studio pitch for a kid’s TV show. The script he received was enjoyable at least, written by a very enthusiastic puppeteer who was producing his own pilot and needed assistance operating the puppets.
He parked his black Volkswagen, got out and walked up to the door. He was confused again, because the sign said closed, and gave a long list of complicated hours. He was pretty sure the call was for noon, but no one else seemed to be around. He knocked.
The door opened, and he was greeted by a middle-aged gentleman with warm hazel eyes, wearing a fuzzy light brown sweater over a sky blue shirt, who had wild unkempt blond hair that just screamed “this man is a puppeteer.”
He must be in the right place.
“Hello!” the man said. “You must be Tony! Please come in,” he said, stepping aside so he could enter.
“I am, but most folks in the business call me Crowley. And you must be Mr. Fell?”
“Yes. You can call me Azi. Do you wear sunglasses indoors?”
“These are transition sunglasses. It’ll change to normal glasses when it warms up a bit,” Crowley gave a half grin. “Azi? That’s an interesting name.”
“My mother always said it came to her in a dream. And it made it easier to claim my own name on my equity card.”
“That helps. And sounds like a fitting name for a puppeteer,” Crowley said. “I expanded mine for my union card, Anthony J. Crowley.”
“Out of curiosity, what does the J stand for?” Azi asked.
“Just Jay,” Crowley answered.
“Really?”
“Oh, it’s Jay. Like a blue jay. Like the bird,” Crowley explained.
“Ah, I see. Mine is ‘Ra’ like the Egyptian God.”
Crowley raised his eyebrow.
“My mother had a very strange dream. It was the sixties,” Azi said with a wink. “Have you ever had a job in television before?”
“Once, years ago. But I’ve been making my own way for a while on other projects.”
“Yes, I saw your resume. Very impressive. Years of work traveling around the world at puppet festivals, building puppets for theatres, making a lot of your own experiments online in all forms of puppetry. I quite enjoyed reading your portfolio.”
“I keep busy,” Crowley said, barely hiding his pleasure. “And I enjoyed looking up your credits. You’ve been in this business a while. So many television shows I recognized. You’ve been busy, too. I’m sure we’ve crossed paths at some point.”
“I was thinking that we might have even worked together before,” Azi said, trying to study his face and remember, and looked down at his clothes. “Oh and I meant to let you know this is for a television pilot, so you didn’t need to wear your theatre blacks for this. The camera doesn’t pick up what you’re wearing.”
“’S really all I wear anyway,” Crowley shrugged. “It’s just easier since I'm always backstage. And it's stylish.”
Azi laughed. “It is indeed. Did you know that our modern interpretation of ninjas wearing black came from stagehands? Historical ninjas wouldn’t wear black in the field, they would dress to blend in with their environment. But the Japanese theatre kuroko wore black, which inspired how people envision ninjas today.”
“I didn’t know that. Fascinating. I did have a chance to see a kuroko blacklight puppet performance and take a workshop at an international puppetry festival, quite a few years ago,” Crowley said.
“I did, also!” Azi said, excited. “Did we go to the same one?”
“Was it the UNIMA festival, in France, about ten years ago?” Crowley said, remembering. “You know, I think I remember you in that workshop. Your French was terrible.”
“Dear me!” Azi said. “Yes, that was me. I think I remember you, too. You asked a lot of questions.”
“Yeah, that sounds like me,” Crowley smirked.
“See, I knew we must have crossed paths,” Azi smiled. “When you walked in I felt like I’d known you for years.”
“And it seems we have. If maybe only briefly, every decade or so.”
“Small world, indeed. Especially for puppeteers,” Azi said.
“So this is a bookshop slash puppet theatre slash television studio? You definitely can’t tell from the outside,” Crowley said, looking around.
“Oh yes! Let me give you a tour. One of my shows did well enough in royalties for me to purchase this, some years back, luckily before the real estate sky rocketed in this area. I sold books for a while, more as an excuse to host my own collection. But so many folks prefer to read digitally that this place has turned into more of a museum for books instead. Occasionally I let people look, especially since I have so many rare older books on puppetry. Then I started doing puppet shows for the kids on the weekends. I set up a little space in the back,” he said, showing Crowley the space. “See? These bookshelves turn around and I have curtains behind them for the show.”
“These pillars in the front are impressive. And the ceiling… Reminds me of the Globe, actually,” Crowley said, looking up.
“Ah, yes. I might have taken some inspiration from there, with my own limited resources and imagination. I saw Hamlet there about 20 years ago after it was rebuilt and took a tour. The canopy was painted to represent the ‘heavens,’ and the trap door below the stage represented ‘hell,’ and I found that so fascinating that I painted some zodiac signs above.”
“Full of trivia, aren’t you,” Crowley said. “Then do you also have a hell in this bookshop?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Azi said with a wink. “And yes. When you live in a bookshop with few customers, you do get quite good at trivia.”
“You live here, then?” Crowley asked.
“Yes, just upstairs. Made the whole purchase worth it. I have everything I could ever want, right here,” he said, giving Crowley a smile.
Crowley smiled back, realizing his present company didn’t get out very much. But he didn’t judge him for that. He enjoyed his own solitude, too, often not leaving his flat for months when he was working on a project.
“So, tell me about this pitch,” Crowley said.
“Ah yes. Well I’ve spent my life doing other’s work, and so I am really excited to perform my own. I’m combining my love of reading with my love of puppetry to make a new show for children, by Mr. Fell and Co.’s Puppet Creations!”
“Who is the ‘and Co.’?” Crowley asked.
“Oh I knew it would be harder to change the sign later, and I was optimistic about growing my company. Or at least sharing it with someone. Let’s just say, yet to be determined.”
“Fair enough,” Crowley said. “What’s the show about?”
“Well, it’s about two friends, Mark and Book, who have opposite personalities and live in a magic library and go on story time adventures to teach kids to love reading. Together, they are BookMark. Get it?”
Coming from anyone else, Crowley would have found the pitch cheesy. But coming from this kind and fluffy haired puppeteer, he couldn’t help but find it endearing. “Yes, I get it. And this is a perfect setting for it,” he said, looking around at the books.
“Isn’t it indeed? Mark is a humanoid tandem hand and glove puppet, I’ll do his mouth and left hand and you’ll do the right hand. Have you performed one of those before?” Azi asked.
“Yes, actually. I was Trekkie’s right hand in a regional production of Avenue Q, a few years back.” Crowley said.
“Perfect. That’s a stage production?” Azi asked.
“What? You don’t know Avenue Q? It’s been out twenty years. Rejuvenated stage puppetry. It beat Wicked at the Tonys.”
“My interests are a bit antiquated, I’m afraid. I have a hard time keeping up with the newer trends,” Azi admitted.
“Well, how do you plan to reach the kids?” Crowley asked. “Are you going to do the classics only, like Treasure Island? Or adaptations of newer books, like Pete the Cat, Dragons love Tacos, Dog Man, Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Stinky Cheese Man, Bunnicula [1] … and I’m sure there are even newer ones, those are just musicals I’ve made puppets for in the last few years for theatre, but-”
Crowley stopped himself. This was usually the point where his unasked-for suggestions lead to being asked to leave.
“Guilty on Treasure Island,” Azi said, gesturing a bit to the left where there were some pirate puppet costumes that Crowley hadn’t noticed. “But those are some great ideas. Licensing might be an issue with the newer books, but authors might be willing to promote their work on the show. Open to the possibility and excited that you have the puppets for those already!”
Crowley released a short sigh of relief. And then he can’t help but go further, now that he found a willing ear. “I love the idea of helping kids read. But there are so many newer authors too, under the radar, from so many underrepresented demographics. The publishing industry as a whole has shut out so many voices. This could be a great chance to feature them too.”
“I love it,” Azi said. “Yes, indeed! This could be a great opportunity. If the studio approves, of course.”
There it was. Crowley frowned. “But this is your own show, right? You can decide for yourself.”
“Well, it gets a little more complicated, with networks, and agents, and licensing. Quite a bit of red tape, you see. I’m sure it’s different when you are unaffiliated. Must be nice to get to do whatever you want.”
“You sound jealous, Azi,” Crowley said with a smirk. It was conversations just like this that helped him not miss working in commercial television.
“Not at all. I get to do… what my agent wants,” Azi said, suddenly unsure as he said it.
“Quite,” Crowley said. “So tell me about your puppet, Book? Is it a real book?”
“Ah, yes!” Azi grinned, and ran in the back to grab the puppet. Crowley rarely smiled, but found himself grinning almost every time Azi did. Maybe it was because of the dimples.
Azi returned with two puppets. “I had two thoughts on it. Originally I wanted to make it a real book. But I also thought this could be fun. A little worm, similar to Slimey on Sesame Street. ‘Book’ could be short for ‘Bookworm.’”
“Very nice,” Crowley said. “A rod puppet?”
“Yes. These two rods control it. You can play with it a bit, if you like,” he said, handing it over.
He took the puppet carefully. It took quite a bit of trust, to give your puppet to another, to know that they will handle it with the respect it deserved. Puppeteers never touched each other’s puppets without express permission.
He tested it, carefully, trying the movement, finding different expressions, moving the worm forward and back, acting scared, acting excited, acting sleepy, going through all the different emotions with the small bit of colored foam attached to two sticks.
“Marvellous,” Azi said, beaming. “Yes, this is exactly what I was envisioning when I made it.”
“It’s well constructed,” Crowley said. “I think this could be a great addition to your show. And what’s the other one?”
“The other Book puppet I’m not as sure about using,” Azi said, pulling the second puppet out. “I made it with insulation foam, and carved it into the shape I wanted, with a hinge joint right at the spine of the book, and bound it in faux leather. It’s more literal, which I love, but having a hard time getting it to give the expression I want. And unsure of where to place the eyes.”
“How are you animating it?” Crowley asked. “Like up and down or left to right?”
“Well, I’ve tried both, and haven’t decided. And also unsure of where to place the pirate hat. If the worm is Book - that will also be an issue, but maybe he can have a miniature eye patch. But this one just isn’t giving me enough character.”
“May I?” Crowley asked. Azi nodded, and handed the Book puppet over.
Crowley looked carefully. It was very well made. He could tell Azi had professional studio training in constructing his puppets. Pink Panther foam was usually a little out of his own price range for his own projects, and just looking the puppet over he could see he spared no expense in making it.
“I think it has potential,” Crowley said. “You did a good job on it. I think having just one hinge joint is going to limit your movement. I’d suggest finding another place we can animate. If you put the eyes here, or here,” Crowley moved his fingers to the top and middle of the book, “and add an arduino and some servos, you could have expressive, moving eyes that might solve the character problem. And still have room for a pirate hat.”
Azi looked it over. “Well, that might exceed my capacity. I’m not as familiar with animatronics.”
“Oh I could show you,” Crowley said. “I learned the one I use through a Youtube video. I just had to 3D print some parts at the library and the rest was pretty straightforward. I still have enough parts leftover to make more.”
“Indeed?” Azi said. “I’d love to learn more about that. And yes, I think that could fix it.”
Crowley smiled. He loved to be needed, and was excited at the prospect to have more projects. He also really loved Azi’s easy acceptance of all of his ideas. With other producers, he’d usually be put in his place by now, which was why Crowley was very particular about who he worked with these days. But just within the space of a few minutes, he was already looking forward to more time with the eccentric book-selling puppeteer.
“Well, I’ll have to have you by the flat next time, and I can show you. I made my own puppet workshop there, and we could make the eyes together,” Crowley said.
“Excellent,” Azi said. “I’m also stuck on where his arms should be. I briefly thought maybe this Book could use telekinesis instead of arms.”
“How would that work?” Crowley asked.
“Well, in one of my past lives, I was a humble practitioner in the art of prestidigitation, known as Fell the Marvellous,” Azi said with a bit of a flourish. “I was rubbish at it, frankly. Not enough of a perfectionist to make it really work. I still have my magician’s trunk upstairs. But thought I could use some fishing line to make things float, that shouldn’t be easily picked up by the camera, whenever Book needs to move something.”
“I think that’s so clever,” Crowley said. “I vote you do it that way. It’ll be so much harder to get right, but worth the effort. Something the kids haven’t seen. And it’s so hard to impress kids these days. They’ve seen everything.”
“Maybe we could use some of these marionette controls for it, too. I have a box of them,” Azi said, pulling out another trunk. “That could help us control objects floating in space better than just floating on one string.”
He opened the trunk, showing a mass of marionettes laying haphazardly about.
Crowley stuttered several times, trying out a few phrases, before he managed, “Th-this is how you store your marionettes?”
“Not ideal, I know,” Azi said. “It’s frankly why I haven’t opened this trunk in a few years.”
“But… they are all tied together,” Crowley said, pained.
“Oh, I know. Here, maybe we won’t mess with that quite yet. We can start with testing the other puppet, Mark,” Azi said, guiding Crowley to the back of the bookshop where he had a mini film studio set up, complete with lighting and a green screen.
“For these first few rehearsals, I thought we would just practice together for a bit, with some of the scripts I’ve started. I set up the camera so we can watch it on this television here and see how we are doing. When we feel ready with our part I’ll contract with someone to film us for the first pilot, but wanted to give us time first to work through any performance needs,” Azi explained.
“Sure, that sounds great,” Crowley said. “I don’t have another gig right now, so I’m free for what you need.”
“Wonderful, and I do so appreciate your time! Here, let me put Mark on, and then you can try on his hand,” Azi said, holding Mark up, placing his right hand to operate the mouth and his left hand in the glove. He checked his placement and frame in the camera, and did a few movements to see how it looked. The motions on the screen were reversed from how they were standing, and Crowley remembered to adjust to the mirror effect from his work years ago in television.
Crowley slid in close to Azi and put his hand inside the glove to be Mark's right hand. It was tight, but after a little adjusting he was able to make it work.
This part Crowley definitely knew. He set his thoughts to matching Azi’s movements, to make the hands seem natural, simply by repeating his motions, or reacting with different emotions, as Azi read through his lines on the script.
“Oh you are doing marvellous, Crowley,” Azi said. “And it helps that you are near my height too. You don’t have to duck too much do you? Are you still comfortable?”
“As comfortable as you get as a puppeteer,” Crowley said, peering out from under Azi's armpit.
“Oh good,” Azi said, beaming. “I made this myself and wanted to make sure it works for you, too. I can still make adjustments as needed.”
“Good to know, but this does feel fine. I’ll let you know if there’s any issues,” Crowley said.
Azi went through the lines in the script again, playing Mark with an amusing enthusiastic childlike voice, and worked through different aspects of the scene. It took a little coordination for them to pick up things together and make it look natural, like when Mark held up a book to read since that motion had to happen at the same time, but eventually they got it.
By the end of the rehearsal, they were both hot and sweaty, and politely stepped out of the puppet and each other’s circle to cool off.
“Let me get you some water, Crowley,” Azi said, stepping back to the kitchen. “I think I have a few snacks back here, too, will be back in a tick.”
“’M not hungry, but thanks anyway,” Crowley said, and couldn’t stop himself from looking again at Azi’s box of marionettes.
By the time Azi returned with water, a pot of tea and two cups, several iced biscuits, and some assorted nuts and fruit, Crowley had straightened most of the marionettes out again.
“Oh, oh my,” Azi said. “This is wonderful, Crowley… Like a miracle, really. I haven’t bothered to open this box in years, knowing how tangled they were…”
“I hope I didn’t overstep. But this one I think I can’t quite straighten out, it might need new strings. The rest should be fine. I made a rig to hold mine at home with a PVC pipe, if you are interested I can make you one too,” Crowley says.
“We can use this disconnected one as the telekinesis control for the Book puppet, that should work nicely. These puppets were originally my father’s…” Azi said, stopping short. “I learned a lot of puppetry from him. He used it quite a bit in his ministry.”
He said it in such stilted tones that Crowley decided not to press further. “They are well made.”
“Thank you. He found them from all over, from what I understand,” Azi said.
Crowley politely took a biscuit. “Your script was really enjoyable.”
“Oh, thank you! I used a lot of Mr. Rogers’ guide in writing it. He insisted on carefully choosing every word since children hear things so literally,” Azi said, pouring himself some tea and grabbing a few of the treats on a napkin. “And I do think I’ll take you up on some of the mechs you offered, Crowley. I’m very interested in the animatronic eyes and the marionette rig you mentioned. I can pay you, just let me know how much.”
“I’m pretty sure I have an extra PVC pipe, so no trouble there. I’ll experiment a bit with the eyes and we can see if that’s what you are looking for, and then we can settle on a fee?” Crowley said. “I think it shouldn’t take more than an hour and the materials are fairly cheap, probably not more than the cost of a dinner out.”
“Oh wonderful,” Azi said. “Just let me know where you would like to dine, and happy to treat you.”
Crowley realized belatedly how Azi interpreted his words, meaning it wouldn’t cost more than a meal out, not specifically as an invitation to dinner. But one look at those impossibly twinkling hazel eyes and big grin, complete with dimples, and he found he didn’t have the heart to correct him.
So he shrugged and said, “Sure.”
“Anything in particular you like?” Azi said. “I know a place that’s just divine where they sell oysters.”
Crowley doesn’t smile often, but found he was doing it more and more often around this eccentric, bubbly puppeteer. “I’ve never eaten an oyster.”
“Well let me tempt you!” Azi said, with another huge grin.
Footnotes
1. I’ve made this puppet! -https://www.tiktok.com/@dorkpixie/video/7288563581375761694↩