To: <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org>
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 19:44:49 -0500
Subject: [Puptcrit] About small (yet gigantic) puppet works


>My request is I would love to hear from other's doing "small works" and
>see some images and video.
>Hope to hear from you.
>
>Michael John Moynihan
>Milwaukee

Hi MJM.

Two years ago, I saw a small-scale puppet show that was in fact epic in 
impact.
It was called "Le périple", and it is by a new troup called l'Ubus thé=E2tre,
which name seems like both a re-take on the famous Ubu character in French 
theatre, and a word play on "bus", which is where they play their entire 
show. Yes, the founder inherited her father's schoolbus and transformed it 
into a puppet performance space.  The bus is still functionnal, and actually 
is used to travel from "venue to venue... The audience sits on the original 
seats, and watches the show unfold at the front, where some of the seats 
have been removed to make way for a very small play area. most of the work 
is done on tabletop, but there is a great use of space. Some action takes 
place on the ceiling, and  visits the audience from time to time.
I would rather not tell anything about the story, besides that it is the 
fascinating journey of a grain of sand.
I wouldn't want to spoil any surprise. I have seen that show once. I want to 
see it three times more at least.
This is the kind of show I feel puppetry is all about. Possibilities within 
possibilities.
Involvement of the performers to a personal emotional level as I have never 
seen before.
The performers were only two, and they made the small bus into an entire 
world.

Technically, everything was kept to a strict minimum, with simple puppets, 
simple lighting, simple sound.  and simpler still storytelling. A feat of 
such a scale. I cannot begin to understand the level of skill the 
puppetmaker must have acquired to be able to make such simple yet amazing 
puppets, especially since I have seen other equally amazing puppets of his 
but in the realm of refined complexity (fully expressive and flexible 
caricature-like latex puppets).

Back to this show...
All the magic was in the way it was presented. Simple here meant efficiency, 
poetry, softness, and visual beauty. As a seemingly empty and quiet desert 
can be breath taking experience.

see some details, including two pictures and one short video, on their 
website:
http://lubustheatre.dynalias.com/

The company is based in Canada, in the province of Quebec.


Le Périple
by Agn=E8s Zacharie
Performed by Agn=E8s Zacharie and Pierre Robitaille
Directed by : Martin Genest
L=92Ubus Thé=E2tre
(based in Sacré-C=9Cur de Saguenay)


Mathieu René Créaturiste
Marionnettes, Masques, Etcetera...
Puppets, Masks, Etcetera...
creaturiste-AT-magma.ca
www.creaturiste.com
(514) 274-8027 

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