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| Cabaret de Insectos: Dracularium Freak (FIMFA Lx15, São Luiz Teatro Municipal, 2015) |
“To speak of a puppet with most men and women is to cause them to giggle. They think at once of the wires; they think of the stiff hands and the jerky movements; they tell me it is ‘a funny little doll.’ But let me tell them a few things about these puppets. Let me again repeat that they are the descendants of a great and noble family of Images, Images which were made in the likeness of God; and that many centuries ago these figures had a rhythmical movement and not a jerky one; had no need for wires to support them, nor did they speak through the nose of the hidden manipulator. (…) Did you think, ladies and gentlemen, that these puppets were always little things of but a foot high? Indeed, no!
The puppet had once a more generous form than yourselves. Do you think that he kicked his feet about on a little platform six foot square, made to resemble a little old fashioned theatre; so that his head almost touched the top of the proscenium; and do you think that he always lived in a little house where the door and windows were as small as a doll's house, with painted window blinds parted in the centre, and where the flowers of his little garden had courageous petals as big as his head? Try and dispel this idea altogether from your minds, and let me tell you something of his habitation (…).”
The puppet had once a more generous form than yourselves. Do you think that he kicked his feet about on a little platform six foot square, made to resemble a little old fashioned theatre; so that his head almost touched the top of the proscenium; and do you think that he always lived in a little house where the door and windows were as small as a doll's house, with painted window blinds parted in the centre, and where the flowers of his little garden had courageous petals as big as his head? Try and dispel this idea altogether from your minds, and let me tell you something of his habitation (…).”
-Edward Gordon Craig
A puppet is more than just a form or object created to make us laugh and it is definitely not just directed towards children. These are ideas that are still too persistent nowadays. And that’s something that truly annoys us as puppeteers, or at least it does to me. Maybe because of that and for the fact that I’ve always looked at puppets for their artistic freedom and creativity; these ideas are something I’ve always been trying to fight against.
Since when do I recall thinking of these figures as something that could transmit ideas, concepts and with which I could express myself? I search at the back of my memory…the “Robertos”? During my childhood I remember dedicatedly watching them in a garden in Lisbon…But the click moment didn’t happen then. I also recall playing a lot with my hands, they looked enough to me to even make cowboy movies (I was especially fond of Roy Rogers…) or to make Fred Astaire’s and Ginger Rogers dance pieces, together with a little help from unexpected objects and, with my “Tucha dolls” that were on duty. The click moment came at two moments: with Vasco Granja, who introduced me to the fabulous shadows of Loote Reiniger and with Jim Henson and the “Muppets show”. From then on, I took hours doing decoupages and through “The Muppets” I’ve understood the multiplicity that existed in this kind of Art.
It’s this diversity and again this freedom that attracts me. But also the fact of not belonging to a group, as puppetry can also generate dangerous passions, furious impetuses that fiercely aim to defend tradition. Nevertheless, it is also important to keep the tradition and maintenance of its techniques; it’s through them and their comprehension that we will be able to renovate.
If we look back at the last century we can understand how puppetry was and still is an inexhaustible source of artistic and scenic experiences, inspiring the vanguard theatre movements. Take the examples of Kleist, Maetelinck, Gordon Craig, Alfred Jarry, Schlemmer, Schawisnky, Obraztsov, Philip Genty, Kantor, Bob Wilson, etc., etc.
The puppeteer has long left the obscurity of the booth, exploring the interaction between puppets, actors and objects…and even the castelet itself can be a character.
Maybe the source of his dazzle is this capacity of bringing us illusion. The way how wooden, fabric, metal, plastic, cardboard objects, are turned into metaphors and become living forms with feelings. When this illusion is well done, it’s something that simultaneously disturbs and fascinates us. Therefore I anxiously long for their future, their resources seem endless.
And the next show is already tomorrow.
BIO
Rute Ribeiro (PT): Artistic director of FIMFA Lx - International Festival of Puppetry and Animated Forms and A Tarumba - Teatro de Marionetas.
She Played in FIMFA with Amor de Don Perlimplín com Belisa no seu Jardim (Casa d’Os Dias da Água, 2004); Red Hot FIMFA’s Jazz Band (Maria Matos Teatro Municipal, 2008), Mironescópio: A Máquina do Amor (CAMa – Centro de Artes da Marioneta, 2010; Galeria Boavista, 2012; Teatro Taborda, 2014), Cabaret de Insectos: Dracularium Freak (São Luiz Teatro Municipal, 2015).
