9. The Left Hand of Darkness by #UTC61 & Yara Arts Group.
Ambitious but uneven. Too much respect for the source material to alter it for this medium. Le Guin’s story of a planet whose inhabitants regularly change sex is complicated enough, why not use puppets to explore these ideas rather than replicating so slavishly? Some excellent makes and techniques; too many actually, that weren’t uniformly performed artistically and made it feel hollow.
8. Oil Pressure Vibrator by #GeumhyungJeong.
Narrated in Korean with supertitles, Jeong describes becoming a hermaphrodite so she can have better sex with herself. I’m gonna leave it there since I don’t want to ruin it. Minimal puppetry, but I’m so glad this show is part of the festival. Intentionally clunky presentation with Jeong navigating Windows Explorer to pull up low-res video and images. Bizarre, horny, and funny, I loved this so much.
7. About Ram by #KatkathaPuppetArtsTrust.
Based on several versions of the “Ramayana,” the puppeteers moved prince Ram through some dynamic scenes: running, leaping, swimming towards Lanka as Hanuman, a sword fight with Ravan. Incredible sense of weight and balance. Hampered by 20 year old projected animation that didn’t add anything. The music was mostly OK—I think I’m learning that I prefer live accompaniment for shows of this scale.
6. Trust Me for a While by #PlexusPolaire.
So great to see a small-scale performance vs. the larger one earlier in this thread. The standard “What is real? What is fake?” question that many theater/puppet productions explore, but with Polaire’s dark, menacing take—which elevated it. Felt like an earlier piece from their catalog; the usual navel-gazey “What is the nature of puppetry/simulacra/reality?” that keeps college students up at night.
5. The Sex Lives of Puppets by #BlindSummit.
Puppet reenactment of national sex survey responses from Britain. Seemed like respondents were on the more mature side, which was refreshing. The couples interviews were better than the individual ones—just more material to work with. Curious why they included the latter since they weren’t even that strong. The audiences at this festival often skew older. It was great watching a show like this with them.
4. Dead as a Dodo by #WakkaWakka.
We saw the first two parts of this trilogy; thread here: https://artsio.com/@ottsatwork/111794661666611786. The puppeteers said this show’s changed since that time. Not sure how, but this was the biggest production, the most family-friendly, broadly commercial of the three. And of all the shows we’ve seen this year, the most muppet-like, even including some song. Excellent story and puppets, but I was hoping to enjoy it more. Still a fan though.
3. A Doll’s House by #PlexusPolaire.
Truly incredible. One puppeteer for most of the show, carrying the entire thing on her own. The puppet designs were life-sized and more realistic, evoking a creepiness that served the tone well. Funny too. We’ve seen a number of literary adaptations at this festival over the years: if you’re gonna see Ibsen, it should be this production, trust. Adding them to our shortlist of artists to look out for.
2. Rynoceron by #KTShivak.
A work-in-progress about a rhino’s arrival in Renaissance Europe. Much of it didn’t read well: key narrative sung by Bunraku puppeteers (hard to understand the lyrics or hear above the live music), the sequence of events, the scale of the smaller puppets/elements, and too many ideas/techniques. Albrecht Dürer making woodcuts of the rhino was great, though, and the animal itself once revealed was too. Hope they refine it more.
1. The Matchbox Shows by #LauraHeit.
I wanted to like this more. Each story is gag-based: once you know the title, that’s the story. Brief, silly, sometimes poignant, character names = character or their lines, like The Buy More Drinks Girl only says “Buy More Drinks.” Clearly, an artistic choice for the simplicity of the materials to carry through to each show. It’s celebrating its 25th year. Maybe it would’ve worked better for me back then.
7. “J.M. Coetzee’s Life and Times of Michael K” by Baxter Theatre & Handspring Puppet Co.
It’s still true: the biggest production, highest pedigree, longest running time was the least compelling. The same folks who did “Warhorse” (never saw it), but adapting an award-winning novel? Totally my thing. But it was flat, lifeless, boring. The puppetry didn’t add anything, the story wasn’t that good, too many actors vs. puppets, corny effects … But people loved it!
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