Theatre / bristol festival of puppetry
Review: Wunderkammer (Puppet Fest)
The wunderkammer – literally, room of wonders – was a 17th-century collection of extraordinary objects and oddities intended to reveal the wonder of the natural world. Figurentheater Tübingen’s puppet show is equally baffling, strange and mesmerising.
A box is opened and two golden hands with graceful fingers caress a woman’s hair, then become like malevolent spiders. So begins a series of vignettes linked by the theme of wonderment.
As you might expect from a German theatre company, the performance is technically astounding and precise. The marionettes are gracefully orchestrated by a dense web of strings that can account for the subtlest expression of movement. Puppeteers Alice-Therese Gottschalk, Raphael Mürle and Frank Soehnle are dressed in old-fashioned costumes like Victorian circus performers, adding to the aura of strangeness.
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They manipulate the puppets and interact with them – one malevolent scissor-wielding creature cuts a puppeteer’s finger. In another, a puppeteer takes on the appearance of a caterpillar-like man and dances with him.
Then, there’s a transparent creature in a tank of water, a couple of hilarious and competitive musicians, and this reviewer’s favourite scene: a small creature who is desperate to fly a kite. Dejection is an emotion puppets seem to embody beautifully and so when he eventually does, there are cheers – before a puppeteer cuts his string.
At the end the puppets are displayed on stage – lifeless once more – and audience members become visitors to this extraordinary cabinet of wonderment.
Bristol Festival of Puppetry continues until Sunday, September 6 at various venues. For more info, visit www.puppetplace.org/festival and see our preview here.
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