Shadow Puppet Intrigue
On November 2nd, 2009, I experienced a spectacular performance of Stravinsky's opera "The Nightingale and Other Short Fables", staged by Robert LePage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). I was spellbound. LePage's operatic concept was strikingly avant-garde, and yet his ideas included the ancient artforms of puppetry, Vietnamese water-puppetry, shadow puppetry, and the dramatic play of water and light. Combining such an array of artforms was breathtaking and remarkably coherent. The audience and I fell headlong into a child's magical world right from the start. Though we acknowledged the unreal world of puppets, the opera singers/puppets catapulted the libretto into our present reality, as the viewers become captivated by the unique transformations set before them.
The orchestra pit, filled with water, was the "stage" where some of the opera singers sang and waded, dressed in colourful Asian costumes. The singers, half immersed in the water, animated the puppet figures (using Javanese style sticks for maneuvering) that glided along in beautifully crafted boats. Sound wild? Yes, but it worked so well. The full impact of the unusual theatrical elements and brilliant singing pulled the audience away from a pretend sensibility into one of an intense here-and-now reality. We became children being "read to", while the "pop-up book" scene and complex musical richness shimmered before us. And what of the Nightingale? The Russian soprano, Olga Peretyatko, sang with a gorgeous coloratura voice and was well-suited and versatile in her role as the magical bird.
This particular extravaganza put me in mind of many intrinsic elements that I have recently come to recognize in my own art expression. Unbeknownst to me, in terms of a conscious effort, the figurative puppet element began last year with a silhouette drawing of the profile of the heads of friends whose "bodies" morphed into Maori objects, culminating in tapered legs that diminished into stick-like points. I call the drawing "A Fine Polemic" (2008, 4'8" x 4'2"). A playful synergism?
To see something of what made the Nightingale so special, go to Youtube and type in:
Michael Curry Demonstrates his Nightingale Puppets
or
ExMachina/The Nightingale
or
Waywang Kulit (Dewa Ruci by Ki Manteb 2/10)
or Vietnam Water Puppet Show 2008 part 3
On November 2nd, 2009, I experienced a spectacular performance of Stravinsky's opera "The Nightingale and Other Short Fables", staged by Robert LePage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). I was spellbound. LePage's operatic concept was strikingly avant-garde, and yet his ideas included the ancient artforms of puppetry, Vietnamese water-puppetry, shadow puppetry, and the dramatic play of water and light. Combining such an array of artforms was breathtaking and remarkably coherent. The audience and I fell headlong into a child's magical world right from the start. Though we acknowledged the unreal world of puppets, the opera singers/puppets catapulted the libretto into our present reality, as the viewers become captivated by the unique transformations set before them.
The orchestra pit, filled with water, was the "stage" where some of the opera singers sang and waded, dressed in colourful Asian costumes. The singers, half immersed in the water, animated the puppet figures (using Javanese style sticks for maneuvering) that glided along in beautifully crafted boats. Sound wild? Yes, but it worked so well. The full impact of the unusual theatrical elements and brilliant singing pulled the audience away from a pretend sensibility into one of an intense here-and-now reality. We became children being "read to", while the "pop-up book" scene and complex musical richness shimmered before us. And what of the Nightingale? The Russian soprano, Olga Peretyatko, sang with a gorgeous coloratura voice and was well-suited and versatile in her role as the magical bird.
This particular extravaganza put me in mind of many intrinsic elements that I have recently come to recognize in my own art expression. Unbeknownst to me, in terms of a conscious effort, the figurative puppet element began last year with a silhouette drawing of the profile of the heads of friends whose "bodies" morphed into Maori objects, culminating in tapered legs that diminished into stick-like points. I call the drawing "A Fine Polemic" (2008, 4'8" x 4'2"). A playful synergism?
To see something of what made the Nightingale so special, go to Youtube and type in:
Michael Curry Demonstrates his Nightingale Puppets
or
ExMachina/The Nightingale
or
Waywang Kulit (Dewa Ruci by Ki Manteb 2/10)
or Vietnam Water Puppet Show 2008 part 3
