REVIEWS

•Unpacked
- Reviewed by Beccy Smith

•Stephen Mottram
-Reviewed by Tom Wilson

•Taiwan Toa Thiu Thia Puppet Theatre
-Reviewed by Richard Mansfield

Unpacked
The Fourth Violin from the Left
Arcola Theatre, Dalston, London
Feb 2005

Reviewed by Beccy Smith

It is a strange underworld Unpacked have created, which seems to have found a natural home in the basement of the Arcola theatre. Oversized shadows thrown by torchlight scan across the dilapidated walls giving the surreal events that unfold a grounding in an amateur criminal underworld well suited to the trench-coated ‘spooks’ trying desperately to uncover a (the) plot there. The rundown atmosphere however belies the animation pregnant in every object: as Unpacked’s suitcases divulge their secrets (bodies as often as puppets), each kettle, paper and trunk takes on a life of its own.
This is a show about secrets: there’s a character hidden within every box and the human protagonists swing vertiginously from reaction to reaction as each new obscured revelation arrives. Mysterious voices pass instructions down the telephone line, whilst indecipherable plans are chalked up, erased and amended and the clock (in real time) ticks nearer to an undisclosed ‘Finale’. The stakes, whatever they are, seem high, with this tension played off well against the ineptitude of the confused and desperate spies and the sense of fun that imbues the whole.
The show is grounded in movement – the company are skilled physical performers and their clowning well directed. There are powerful visual images too: open heart surgery enacted on a plate; a man eaten alive by his own suitcase. The puppetry is well integrated; its fabric drawn from the world portrayed – newspapers; brass kettles and leather cases; and their knowingness, against the spooks’ confusion contributes effectively to their quality of menace and mystery.
This is a pleasurable and inventive show – soaked in an atmosphere somewhere between film noir and Buster Keaton. From a puppetry perspective it’s a powerful example of the inspiring marriage possible between physical/visual performance with object work which the Central School of Speech and Drama, from whose Advanced Theatre Practice MA course the company are all graduates, has always advocated. There are holes, in development and tone, and at 45 minutes I would have liked to it to be longer, but the work’s stylish and a lot of fun to watch…this is a young company with a great deal of promise.

Stephen Mottram
The Seed Carriers
West End Centre, Aldershot
February 2004

Reviewed by Tom Wilson

Stephen Mottram embraces a role as an advocate for the role of puppetry in the UK and this performance reflects his dual view of puppets, as theatrical tools and art-objects. The evening is split in two halves: performance and exhibition/question and answer session.
The performance itself is a series of vignettes thematically linked to explore the ‘genetic code embedded within us’. The characters in these scenes are variations on wooden humanoid figures that crawl or bound through a dark landscape, to be caught and dissected by an authoritarian figure, reminiscent of 60’s sci-fi aliens. These figures later metamorphose into hybrid creatures: part-human, part-bird. In this transformation they come to better survive the world that they inhabit. Accompanying these images is Glynn Perrin’s score, at times haunting, at others vaguely disconcerting. The Seed Carriers has a varied emotional engagement. There is no doubt of the beauty of the vignettes in isolation, particularly the images of a cloaked fisherman and the pitiful crawling humans, but at points the dramatic narrative loses clarity, a consequence of the lack of variation in emotional dynamic.
In contrast the exhibition part of the evening seems to have a more cohesive integrity. Mottram talks with a quiet passion for his work, and while maintaining openness to interpretation discusses his conceptual base. It is in this section that some of the handicaps of the theatrical event are clarified. First that, although Mottram has created a solid world for his creations, the performance seems to elide the concept’s inherent polemic against social conditioning. Secondly, Mottram’s creations are delicately and intricately crafted and coloured so that up close the figures are truly beautiful art-objects in their own right, but on stage much of this detail is lost in the distance of the audience and strength of the stage lighting. Mottram’s creations captivate the perusing audience, eliciting a reverential excitement and reserved, passionate engagement with the history, techniques and ideology of the piece.

Taiwan Toa Thiu Thia Puppet Theatre
Wedding of the mice
Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, London

Reviewed by Richard Mansfield

The Wedding of the Mice was a musical puppet-theatre show adapted from a traditional Taiwanese story. The story follows a young girl who discovers the Mouse Mansion and befriends two mice lovers, Pearl and A-Lang and helps bring them together as Pearl’s father has other intentions for his daughter.
The show is played out with glove and rod puppets. The theatre is constructed as the Mouse Mansion and has a large door proscenium where the action takes place. In the walls of the theatre/Mansion are two hidden doors, which the mice use. Each secret compartment opens up to reveal a wonderfully detailed room with working lights.
The music and singing are live and performed in view of the audience. To the other side of the theatre in a comfy arm chair with a side lamp sits the storyteller Wu Shanshan and a large screen showing the English and Chinese subtitles and the slides that accompany the performance. The Master puppeteer is Chen Xihuang. There are three puppeteers in total; Massimo Godoli and Lai Shi-an complete the trio.
The show was great fun; Pear and A-Lang sang beautifully to each other, acrobatics were performed by the many mice trying to win over Pearls heart. Father Mouse jumped somersaults from one side of the stage to the other. The show incorporated the use of Solar and Wind energy as A-Lang was a clever inventor and powered the Mouse Mansion, even reviving Father Mouse from a collapse with his home made solar powered hair dryer. This did get a good laugh from the audience, intentional or not!
Finally the storyteller wrapped the show with more slides of A-land and Pearl on holiday and as Grandparents as they lived of course, happily ever after.