{"id":574,"date":"2019-12-08T08:46:51","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T08:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/?p=574"},"modified":"2022-02-05T13:34:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T13:34:11","slug":"all-puppets-large-and-small-in-quebec-and-the-czech-republic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/all-puppets-large-and-small-in-quebec-and-the-czech-republic\/","title":{"rendered":"All Puppets, Large and Small\u2014in Qu\u00e9bec and the Czech Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mark Brown<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIAMS, Saguenay, Qu\u00e9bec, Canada, 23\u201328 July, 2019.
One Flew Over the Puppeteer\u2019s Nest Festival, Prague, Czech Republic, 31 October to 3 November 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As was excellently attested in the Special Topic of the previous (19th) edition of Critical Stages<\/em>, the art of puppetry is ancient, diverse and global. However, its influence is also uneven between different nations and regions of the world. For example, in Scotland, where I live and work as a theatre critic, the puppet tradition is comparatively weak.[1]<\/sup><\/a> It is frustrating for any theatre lover (and a theatre critic should be, first and foremost, a theatre lover) to live in a culture in which puppet traditions are not strong. Puppets, like the animated characters of cinema and television that followed them, have extraordinary physical possibilities that are far beyond the capacities of human beings. That gives them great potential in terms of enthralling children, of course. However, the puppet as representation of the human form, which is animated or inert as the puppeteer chooses, has a profound and seminal bearing upon our individual and collective consciousness of human mortality. In that sense, the puppet has always borne a powerful role in theatre for adults, as well as for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If one has a passionate interest in and, indeed, a deep respect for puppetry, yet lives and works in a culture in which it is marginal, the opportunity to experience puppet theatre in and from countries where it enjoys greater influence is a privilege that should be accepted gratefully. In my case, in 2019, I was given not one, but two opportunities to visit puppet theatre festivals. In July, I attended the exceptional international programme of FIAMS (Festival International des Arts de la Marionnette \u00e0 Saguenay<\/em>), which is held biennially in the small city of Saguenay in Qu\u00e9bec, Canada. Following that, in November, I had the pleasure of being a guest of the Czech Republic\u2019s Arts and Theatre Institute and the country\u2019s Ministry of Culture at the HI PerformanCZ showcases of Czech theatre (which was comprised mainly of work being staged at the One Flew Over the Puppeteer\u2019s Nest Festival in Prague).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arguably the finest production at FIAMS was Le Cirque\nOrphelin, by the Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois company Les Sages Fous. Presenting, in puppet form,\na circus for vagabond artists, it might be inspired by some of the anarchic\ntroupes (such as Archaos\nfrom France) that have arisen within nouveau\ncirque<\/em> in recent decades. Appropriately, it was presented as a late night\nperformance in the Espace C\u00f4t\u00e9-Cour, a bar-cum-theatre where audience members\ncan enjoy wines and local craft beers while watching the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A puppet from Le Cirque Orphelin<\/em>. Photo: Les Sages Fous<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The piece boasts a set which looks like an old Vaudevillian music hall that has been plunged into post-industrial dilapidation. In this bleak-yet-alluring space, we are witnesses to a darkly humorous, alluringly strange and, sometimes, quite disconcerting series of circus routines. The acrobatic Equilibrist, for example, performs his remarkable feats by means of only a head and two arms (he has no torso). Other characters include a shocked-haired speed freak (pictured above) who zooms around the circus in a wheelchair, and a lovelorn and obsessive performer whose dream is to swim in the aquarium with his beloved mermaid. Le Cirque Orphelin<\/em> enjoys atmospheric music and sound, excellent lighting and charmingly distinctive puppets. It is a highly original and marvellously executed work of puppet theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere on the FIAMS programme, the extraordinary\nperformer Guylaine Rivard (of Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s Th\u00e9\u00e2tre CRI) presented Aisselles et Bretelles<\/em> (Armpits and Braces). A unique,\nabsurdist, plethoric work, it entails Rivard unfolding all manner of objects\nand images, ranging from the historic to the folkloric and the satirical, from within her\nintricately arranged costume. Rivard appears somewhat like a one-woman\nrepresentation of the cartoon and film career of Terry Gilliam, balanced, as\nshe seems to be, between comic genius and delicious insanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other highlights at FIAMS included Dissection<\/em>, a bleakly poetic,\nbeautifully meditative piece by Qu\u00e9bec company Chantiers, and Cache-Cache Marionettes<\/em>, a delightfully\ncrazy family work, using puppets made from sticks, and performed in promenade\nthrough a forest by Th\u00e9\u00e2tre\nPuzzle of Montreal and Saguenay\u2019s own Th\u00e9\u00e2tre La Rubrique. One of the most\nintriguing pieces in Saguenay was My\nGreat Work <\/em>by Catalan theatremaker David Espinosa. In this show, Espinosa\ncreates an entire, adult-orientated human world peopled by miniature figures so\nsmall that audience members are given little sets of binoculars in order to\nfollow the many banal, dramatic and comic events that are depicted. A work of\ntiny, almost impossibly complex table top theatre, it is, it seems, part of a\ndeveloping trend towards miniaturism within the world of puppetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
My Great Work<\/em> by David Espinosa.Photo: David Espinosa<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Prague, the international guests of the HI PerformanCZ showcase were immersed in contemporary work that stands in the Czech Republic\u2019s impressive tradition of puppet theatre.[2]<\/sup><\/a> Interestingly, one of the most notable pieces, The Smallest of the Sami<\/em>, by the young artists of the Czechoslovakian Sticks company, is similar in its miniaturism to the Espinosa piece that was shown at FIAMS. Performed in a small studio space in Prague\u2019s fine children\u2019s theatre Divadlo Minor, it uses very small, carved figures (human and animal) to tell the folktale of a young Sami boy, in the frozen far north of Europe, and his intrepid rite of passage into adulthood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Smallest of the Sami<\/em>. Photo: Czechoslovakian Sticks<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The festival in Prague gave an impressive overview of the sheer diversity of puppet theatre in the Czech Republic. The Lisen Theatre\u2019s Bound by Grass<\/em> is an atmospheric piece in which shadow and sound are used to evoke the spiritual dimension in the Zen Buddhist folktale of a wise monk and his dangerous encounter with an emperor, a general and an elephant. There could hardly be a greater contrast with that piece than with works such as Puppet Theatre Ostrava\u2019s colourful, energetic and musical production, based upon Smetana\u2019s famous opera The Bartered Bride <\/em>or Theatre Lampon\u2019s charmingly traditional rendering of Oscar Wilde\u2019s great children\u2019s story The Happy Prince<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Nat\u00e1lia Va\u0148ov\u00e1 in Zuna<\/em> by Continuo Theatre. Photo: A. Vosi\u010dkov\u00e1<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is invidious to try to pick favourites from among the panoply of delightful, highly accomplished works that were staged at the Prague festival. However, Zuna <\/em>(pictured above), created by (its director and principal performer) Nat\u00e1lia Va\u0148ov\u00e1 and Kate\u0159ina \u0160ob\u00e1\u0148ov\u00e1 for the acclaimed company Continuo Theatre deserves a special mention. The show is a wonderfully engaging piece in which the girl of the title overturns a Faustian pact in order to be reunited with her mother. Simultaneously traditional and modern (the village gossips are a gaggle of nosey men), it is an aesthetically beautiful reworking of folklore and a powerful testament to the involvement of young artists in Czech puppetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a>The country boasts some excellent children\u2019s theatremakers (such as\nShona Reppe and Andy Manley), who often work in puppet and object theatre, and\nScotland\u2019s capital city, Edinburgh, is home to the excellent, annual Manipulate\nfestival, (which takes for itself the broad remit of \u201cvisual and physical\ntheatre, puppetry and animated films\u201d). The fact remains, however, that\npuppetry occupies a marginal position in the Scottish theatre landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a>A tradition that\nis represented well in the excellent puppet museums in Chrudim and Pilsen. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\"\"
 \n\n\n\n

*<\/a>Mark Brown<\/strong> is theatre critic of the Scottish national newspapers The Herald on Sunday <\/em>and the Sunday National<\/em>, and Scottish critic of the U.K. national title the Daily Telegraph<\/em>. He is a regular teacher at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and other universities, and the author of the book Modernism and Scottish Theatre since 1969: A Revolution on Stage<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2019 Mark Brown
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Creative<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/Photo-3-PER-puppetmark-Fig-3.-Smallest-of-the-Sami.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":282,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/a-case-study-of-the-intercultural-production-of-vaike-jumalanna-the-little-goddess\/","url_meta":{"origin":574,"position":0},"title":"A Case Study of the Intercultural Production of V\u00e4ike Jumalanna (The Little Goddess)","author":"Mark Brown","date":"October 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Izumi Ashizawa* Abstract A devising theatre practitioner, Izumi Ashizawa has been facing the challenges and privileges of creating multi-lingual and intercultural works in different countries for the past 15 years. Each project presented its own unique developmental process, based on the specific\u00a0traits of the local actors, designers and technicians. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Essays"","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/category\/essays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/11\/image2-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/11\/image2-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/11\/image2-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/11\/image2-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":604,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/men-punish-women-in-pilsen\/","url_meta":{"origin":574,"position":1},"title":"Men Punish Women in Pilsen","author":"Mark Brown","date":"December 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Matti Linnavuori* Divadlo international theatre festival in Pilsen, Czech Republic, September 2019. A significant part of the world lives in the age of #metoo, but this year's Divadlo Festival in Pilsen seemed to dwell in a different era. Could it be that Divadlo is one lap ahead, or does the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Performance Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/5-PHOTO-PER-pilsmatti-sternenhoch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/5-PHOTO-PER-pilsmatti-sternenhoch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/5-PHOTO-PER-pilsmatti-sternenhoch.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/5-PHOTO-PER-pilsmatti-sternenhoch.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":324,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/critics-should-never-say-in-writing-what-they-cannot-dare-to-say-to-the-subject-in-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":574,"position":2},"title":"Critics should never say in writing what they cannot dare to say to the subject in person: Interview with Ian Herbert","author":"Mark Brown","date":"December 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Savas Patsalidis* After leaving Cambridge University in 1961 with a degree in Litterae Humaniores, Ian Herbert began his career as a publisher with Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. He left Pitman after sixteen years, finishing as the Director of the company responsible for its general publishing programme. In this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Critics on Criticism"","block_context":{"text":"Critics on Criticism","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/category\/critics-on-criticism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/11\/pdf12.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":627,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/with-age-i-get-more-tolerant-of-failure-interview-with-michael-billington\/","url_meta":{"origin":574,"position":3},"title":"\u201cWith age, I get more tolerant of failure\u201d: Interview with Michael Billington","author":"Mark Brown","date":"December 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark Fisher* He had a front-row seat for the political theatre of the 1970s, the musicals of the 1980s, the in-yer-face generation of the 1990s and the cross-cultural developments of the twenty-first century. Now, at the age of 80, and after 48 years as lead drama critic on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Critics on Criticism"","block_context":{"text":"Critics on Criticism","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/category\/critics-on-criticism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/image12.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":756,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/a-note-from-the-guest-editors\/","url_meta":{"origin":574,"position":4},"title":"A Note from the Guest Editors","author":"Mark Brown","date":"December 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Manabu Noda* and Yun Cheol Kim** The world is ageing\u2212and fast. According to the United Nations, already one in eleven of the world population is over 65, and by 2050 the rate will be one in six. The 65+ age band outnumbered children under five years of age for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Special Topic"","block_context":{"text":"Special Topic","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/category\/special-topic\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/10\/Manabu_Noda2-140x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":827,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/modern-scottish-theatre-emerging-from-the-shadow-of-the-reformation\/","url_meta":{"origin":574,"position":5},"title":"Modern Scottish Theatre: Emerging from the Shadow of the Reformation","author":"Mark Brown","date":"December 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark Brown* Abstract Scottish theatre has, arguably, enjoyed its richest period over the last half-century. This paper will seek to explain Scotland\u2019s relative lack of a historical theatre tradition and to explore the key elements in what the author proposes has been a \u201cEuropean modernist renaissance\u201d on the national stage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "National Reports"","block_context":{"text":"National Reports","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/category\/national-reports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/image8-4.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/image8-4.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/image8-4.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/12\/image8-4.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1210,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions\/1210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}