Sean Dennie
Puppetry cabaret showcases spread of new works
Calgary’s major players in the world of puppetry — Calgary Animated Objects Society (CAOS) the Old Trout Puppet Workshop and WP Puppet Theatre — are collaborating on a cabaret showcasing short-form puppetry for adults with everything from shadow puppets to clowns to a straight-talking beaver.
Xstine Cook is the artistic director of CAOS which produces the International Festival of Animated Objects every two years. This being a non-festival year the Dolly Wiggler Cabaret is held to give Calgarians a little extra puppetry for 2014. The show’s name is based on puppet master Ronnie Burkett’s favoured term for puppeteers i.e. people who basically wiggle dollies.
The evening will provide a sneak peek at Old Trout Peter Balkwill’s newest work Trunk Puppet which is still under development. The central idea is that all the action and puppets will emerge from a single trunk and the Trunk Puppet vignettes performed at the cabaret will help feed the full-length show to be presented at next year’s Festival of Animated Objects.
Puppetry usually doesn’t fit inside a box (or a trunk) and so it’s difficult to know exactly what to expect but Cook says there is likely to be humour along with political undertones. “That’s the traditional form of cabaret with music politics and entertainment all mixed together” she adds.
In addition to Trunk Puppet there will be shadow puppets from Tyler Longmire; a puppet sex ed bit by Pape & Taper; tabletop puppetry from The Janes; Cook herself transformed into a bear; and some clowning from Jacqueline Russell and Michelle Brandenburg. Alice Nelson will also perform an excerpt from a new piece for June’s Ignite! Festival Ms. Sugarcoat that tells a politically correct history of Canada with a beaver puppet as a somewhat contrary teaching assistant.
Stitching the whole evening together as compère (i.e. an emcee who does comic interludes) is Mooky Cornish who worked for years in Calgary and has recently toured extensively with Cirque de Soleil and other shows. Hilarity is sure to ensue.
This cabaret is about more than just what’s onstage though. WP Puppet Theatre is running a workshop on collective puppet creation throughout the preceding week and the participants will present their brand-new work on May 31.
“One of the reasons for doing the cabaret is to build a new local scene to give people more changes to perform in front of an audience and to get to know each and start to exchange information” says Cook.
She’s bringing in people she knows through the animated objects festival and adds that Balkwill has connections with up-and-coming puppeteers from across the country through the Banff Puppet Theatre Intensive he teaches every year.
“It’s really really exciting that there is a new crop of people coming up and trying things out” says Cook. “It is not an easy road and there’s no clear map for anybody…. We do work in these isolated bubbles to some extent so the social aspect of it is extremely valuable.”
As for audiences? “They’ll definitely get a better idea of how many people are practising puppetry in this city as well as the diversity” says Cook. Bonus: you might even get to provide input on the future development of Trunk Puppet and other performances.
Proceeds from the cabaret will go to International Festival of Animated Objects and the Old Trout Puppet Workshop. Go to animatedobjects.ca for details.
