IGNORANCE | STAGE REVIEW
The Riverfront, Newport, Fri 11 Oct
What is happiness? From what dark well does dissatisfaction spring?
Through the use of puppets, against a filmic backdrop that included skyscrapers, silhouette, snippets of black and white film reel, and animation, Ignorance ably, and amusingly, explored this concept. Stepping back into our distant caveman past simple, boulder-headed puppets played out a tale of love, labour (literally), and loss, illuminating on their way the birth of the creative imagination and how this, possibly, may have invoked our first yearnings for ‘something more’.
Parallel to this, and deftly interwoven with the cave-couples’ tale, were scenes recognisable from modern life: sports car drivers full-up with envy and road rage; a woman who chooses the man with ‘a bigger balloon’ than his rival; an old man gazing listlessly from the window of a high-rise building, before taking the jump. This darkness was, to a great extent, softened by the fact these were ‘just puppets’ – cartoon reflections of real human beings, the chubby, baby-like heads of the modern day characters adding greatly to this, although it was humour, and a certain satirical sense, that mostly achieved this.
Moments of tenderness in the tales, too, brought much light, and light-heartedness. A recurring image throughout was that of the yellow balloon, bearing an inane smiley as a face. How easily happiness can be ‘popped’, or float away, this seemed to suggest. Perhaps happiness comes from just being in the moment, then? was a further question asked. And, one that this show certainly answered, for this reviewer was riveted. Brilliant stuff from the Old Trout Puppet Workshop, brilliant stuff indeed.
words: MAB JONES