PUPPETOPIA

While puppetry is often considered to be primarily for children Puppetopia, a festival of
puppet shows hosted by HERE Arts Center, has something for people of all ages. The skill and
craftsmanship required to bring puppets to life are on full display at the festival, enough to spark
astonishment and wonder in even the most skeptical of audiences.

The evening began with The Adventures of Curious Ganz, by the Curious School of
Puppetry. It is a delightful fantasia of science and whimsy, following the Ganz, an insatiable
young scientist grappling with big questions like “Did the chicken come first? Or the egg?” and
gazing longingly at the stars.

When he teams up with Queen Lizzy the First and explains to her
that the earth is round, he is sent on a rollicking adventure around the globe aided by two of her
hapless courtiers and hounded by a villainous royal advisor, who insists that the earth is flat.
From a miniature riding on a tiny boat to a toddler-sized rod puppet, Ganz discovers the magic of
science and nature surrounded by antique books and playful props as the three nearly invisible
puppeteers steer his course towards invention and innovation, eventually blasting off on a rocket
with Lizzy to explore the universe. Set to a gorgeously baroque score, the intricately detailed
puppets and sets bring Ganz’s fantastical world to life with sharp humor and a seemingly endless
supply of curiosity and wonder.

The second show of the evening, Pescador, by Brazilian company Silencio Blanco, sails
slowly and softly through a day in the life of a solitary fisherman, a pale marionette in a knit hat.
From the headlamp-turned lighthouse that begins the performance to his rowboat, which bobs
across the stage supported by the puppeteer’s various body parts, each motion, and articulation is
excruciating in its attention to detail and storytelling.

As a flock of seagulls flies overhead or the
fisherman’s net unfurls beneath the waves, the ensemble of performers conjures up the starkly
beautiful oceanscape with a cinematic quality that draws attention to the shifts in visual
perspective that are unique to puppetry: scale and space are played with as much as narrative and
motion.

When the fisherman finds himself caught in a violent storm, his small boat is tossed
about the stage in nail-biting arcs, caught, and released as the puppeteers swirl in a tumultuous
dance. Miraculously the fisherman makes it out alive, but instead of anchoring his boat to the
dock, he pushes it back out to sea, bringing the show to a somber close.

If these two performances are the standard for Puppetopia’s programming then it is truly
not an event to miss.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Noah Witke Mele