Conversations with Liam Prince

Today we’d like to introduce you to Liam Prince.

Hi Liam, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I honestly don’t remember a time in my life where puppetry wasn’t around. From a vintage Grover hand puppet my dad passed down to me when I was a toddler to countless puppet shows I grew up watching on TV, it was always something I loved. When I was about 11 I started to get serious about getting into puppetry as a performance art. That same year I received a funny looking rat puppet for Christmas which I named Randy. On a whim I came up with the name Crumpits (spelled with an i to separate it from the English pastry) which stuck as the name I used for my group of characters. This all happened in 2016 and just recently I celebrated 10 years of performing these crazy guys. And while Randy Rat has changed quite a bit over the years (the original being a commercially made puppet and the current being a refined upgraded version I designed and built myself) he has always stayed the face of the Crumpits and will always be the seeds of where it all began for me. I’ve since then created a long list of Crumpit puppet characters whom I regularly perform including Miss Allaire, Herb the Troll, Bruno and many more who have popped up at a series of local performances including my cable television show “Crumpit Corner”. I’ve been fortunate enough now to have met many puppeteers I grew up watching and quite a few have become friends and mentors that I’ve learned so many things from (Noreen Young, Stephen Braithwaite, Dina and Frank Meschkuleit just to name a few). And I’m very grateful for the opportunities I’ve gotten.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I genuinely believe no true artist or performer goes through their life and work without some obstacles or challenges, it’s part of the hard work that’s required if you want to get somewhere with what you’re passionate about and learning from your mistakes and failures is very important. When I first got serious about wanting to be a puppeteer at 11 years old I had to deal with a lot of bullying and criticism from people in my everyday life like teachers and piers who told me I didn’t have a chance at getting anywhere with this. My passion is certainly something not a lot of people understand fully. I’ve run into the constant stereotypes of puppets being just for kids and also being a form of play rather than an art form. But I think if what you’re doing is important enough to you then it’s important to just keep on going and keep doing what you love in any capacity you can no matter what! And I think just being able to do more and more and continue developing my craft has kept me standing more than anything.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’ve always taken careful steps to make sure the style and vibe of my puppet characters is something different. My process has been to always mix a combo of different things I’ve seen in puppetry and other forms or performance and build my own ideas off of that, everyone needs some inspiration to create! I’ve always loved giving my characters an aesthetic that’s a nice blend of puppetry from both the past and present. While primary I work with TV style mouth hand puppets I occasionally mix in a bit of marionettes, rod puppets and traditional hand puppets as well! a big part of my style is the mix of many different textures that give the character a unique look and feel to them. I primarily stick to fun and whimsical looking creatures with a bit of a psychedelic and trippy element to them to make them appealing for multiple different age groups. I think each of my main characters that I use represent a stage in my time creating where my style started to peak and establish more and more. when designing and building a puppet character I’m always prioritizing what it is that makes it my own.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I constantly hear conversations on where an art form like puppetry is going to end up overtime especially with the conversations artists are constantly having about technology making changes to our lives. I truly feel that puppetry is always something that’s gonna stick around no matter what happens. It’s one of the oldest forms of entertainment that’s existed dating all the way back to 3000 BC. New styles and techniques have developed more and more overtime and constantly expanded the possibilities of what puppetry can do. I feel that no piece of technology can fill in or replace the impact that puppets have on people. The idea of a physical tactile object that can be manipulated into a character audiences and watch and feel connected with has a lot of impact and I’ve seen this with both audience responses at my own performances as well as watching some of my puppetry influences in action. So in conclusion I feel in the next 5,10,20,30 years puppetry is just gonna keep on developing, evolving and reaching more people the way it always has. I remember Stephen Braithwaite once saying to me “The most important thing about performing a puppet is making it more than just an object” and those words have always stood out to me as I feel it’s something about puppetry that’s never changed and will always keep it relevant.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liamthecrazypuppetguy2004/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecrumpitpuppettroupe9445