Festival #13
Visual Theatre
Animated Film
31 Jan — 08 Feb 2020
TICKETS: Summerhall, Edinburgh 1 Summerhall, EH9 1PL 0131 560 1580 / www.summerhall.co.uk The Studio, Edinburgh 22 Potterow, EH8 9BL 0131 529 6000 / www.capitaltheatres.com
FRI 31 JAN + MON 3 – SAT 8 FEB PRODUCTIONS Full Price £12 Concession £10 SNAPSHOTS Full Price CABARET / INDUSTRY EVENT
£3 FREE BUT TICKETED
WORKSHOPS £120 / £60
SAT 1 FEB / SUMMERHALL DISSECTION + MAIN HALL / PRODUCTIONS Full Price £12 Concession £10 DEMONSTRATION / PRODUCTIONS Full Price £10 Concession £8 SCREENINGS Full Price £8 Concession £6 RISING VOICES Full Price £6 Concession £4
manipulatefestival.org
For other venues’ tickets information please contact: Norwich Puppet Theatre St James, Whitefriars, NR1 1TN 01603 615 564 / www.puppettheatre.co.uk COVER IMAGE / A WIRE APART PAPER DOLL MILITIA IMAGE CREDIT: CARLOS HERNAN ALDOUS SOLARY
THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING ORGANISATIONS WHO HAVE SUPPORTED THE CREATION OF WORK PRESENTED BY ARTISTS AT MANIPULATE:
ACCESSIBILITY: With large ambitions but never enough resources, we strive to make our performances, workshops and animated films as accessible as possible. We collaborate closely with participating venues to ensure accessibility information is clear and easy to access. As the work presented during manipulate is primarily visual, containing little or no dialogue, our current focus is to provide British Sign Language as often as possible. Relevant access information is highlighted in bold under events’ synopses. Where we ask you to do so, please visit our website for the most up to date details about provisions currently in place at the venues we use: manipulatefestival.org/access-information.
This year we will operate a request system for an SLI to attend festival workshops and Q&A’s. If you would like to participate in a workshop and require an interpreter, or if you have access to one and would like them to come with you, please contact us by Monday 9 December. If you would like a Q&A to be interpreted, please send us a request by Monday 13 January.
REPUBLIC OF S LOVENIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE
Puppet Animation Scotland would like to thank our festival partners, volunteers, board members and staff, both past and present, for providing their commitment, expertise and enthusiasm. Paul Bruce & Colin Purves / Festival Films Technicians Imaginate / Logistics Martin Baillie / Graphic Designer Jamie MacDonald / Trailer Designer Sid Scott / Videographer Storytelling PR / Public Relations J Thomson / Printer Eleanor White / Photographer 2
For selected dialogue-free productions we will provide hand-outs with visual images and text which offer additional information to read before an event begins. You will find a list of these productions on our website one-month before the festival begins. If you have any questions about accessibility, require more information, or have any thoughts about how we can improve our access provision, please contact: info@puppetanimation.org OR text us on 07444 735172.
WELCOME TO PUPPET ANIMATION SCOTLAND’S ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF INNOVATIVE VISUAL THEATRE AND ANIMATED FILM
We have always placed artists at the centre of everything we do. They create the brilliant, exciting work which makes manipulate what it is. This year we will present: 28 FILMS 27 PRODUCTIONS 10 WORKS IN PROGRESS 6 CABARET PIECES 3 WORKSHOPS 1 INDUSTRY-FOCUSED EVENT Our move to Summerhall and The Studio has enabled us to showcase the work of more Scottish-based artists than ever. During manipulate over 40 theatre makers and companies will present their initial creative explorations, works in progress and full productions. You can see much of this creativity on the first Saturday of the festival, when we present a packed programme of theatre and animated film throughout the day and evening. An important feature of the schedule is our expanded RISING VOICES strand which, as well as featuring complete short form pieces, showcases intriguing work in the final stages of creative development. Please see pages 4–13 for details, as well as a full schedule of the day’s events on pages 14 +15. We will also celebrate the work of leading theatre artists and film makers from Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and the USA. There’s a lot to enjoy and engage with, so join us for a dynamic, eclectic and captivating programme. We look forward to seeing you. SIMON HART / ARTISTIC DIRECTOR HEIDI GORDON / ADMINISTRATOR MELANIE PURDIE / FESTIVALS & PROJECTS MANAGER MAYANNE SORET / DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT NICK WONG / ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
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PRODUCTION
FRI 31 JAN SUMMERHALL / ANATOMY
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FRAGILE MALE EGO JORDAN & SKINNER SCOTLAND / DURATION 50’ / AGES 12+ / 8.30PM Andrea has been giving her lecture, but it’s not been going well. Previous presentations were marred by protests. She’s hoping the open-minded audience at manipulate will hear her out. Andrea wants you to realise that half the world is suffering under the weight of a great burden. If you don’t wake up to this problem, everything we hold dear will fall apart. And we wouldn’t want that now, would we. Multi award-winning company Jordan & Skinner presents a riotous show that cuts to the bone of gender politics. Spoken dialogue.
PRODUCTION
FRI 31 JAN SUMMERHALL / DEMONSTRATION
CIRQULATION: OTHER WORLDS DELIGHTERS SCOTLAND / DURATION 60’ / AGES 12+ / 9.30PM Cirqulation is Scotland’s ongoing circus cabaret night, showcasing new acts by established and emerging artists. Featuring Scottish and international guest performers, each event is themed differently to inspire the creation of exciting, innovative work. This special edition for manipulate features acts which invite you into a different world full of dynamic insights into dimensions where humans defy gravity, music is language, one’s toes can be as expressive as one’s eyes and the usual rules of our world are broken. No spoken dialogue. The host will introduce each act. Hand-outs are available.
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PRODUCTIONS
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / DEMONSTRATION
MA BICHE ET MON LAPIN COLLECTIF AÏE AÏE AÏE FRANCE / DURATION 30’ / AGES 12+ / 2PM + 3PM A show on a table-top, with music but no dialogue, where couples get together and couples break up in a ballet of manipulated objects. A caustic vaudeville made up of short pastoral stories, playful and tragic, knitted with four hands into a charming duet about the misadventures and misunderstandings of love and life. No spoken dialogue.
ERSATZ COLLECTIF AÏE AÏE AÏE FRANCE / DURATION 50’ / AGES 12+ / 5PM + 6.30PM Meet the male of tomorrow, an absurd result of the alchemy of man and machine, a vision of a potential monster. This solitary specimen, a vestige of a disenchanted future, is suffering the effects of a technological revolution which hasn’t quite gone according to plan… This man of tomorrow invites you to join him on a mysterious treasure hunt. Somewhere between the lightest humour and most deranged farce, objects and symbols evoke a series of allegorical tableaux, a world in which the essence of Jacques Tati and Black Mirror present a frozen shard from an already present future. A double bill from one of France’s most respected and successful visual theatre companies, Collectif AÏE AÏE AÏE has been creating and performing its work around the world to great acclaim since 2002. Spoken dialogue
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R I SIN G V O I C E S
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / BASEMENT
JOURNEY SWALLOW THE SEA SCOTLAND / DURATION 20’ / AGES 12+ / 2PM + 3PM Light, shadow, table-top puppetry, textured images and a live vocal soundscape, take us through the eyes of a young girl, to an underworld of discoveries and transformations.
TWA PIRATE QUINES FIONA OLIVER LARKIN SCOTLAND / DURATION 20’ / AGES 12+ / 2.30PM + 3.30PM Shadow puppetry, song and storytelling, inspired by the true-life stories of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, women caught up in the lawless, larger than life Caribbean mercantile world of the 17th century.
SHADOW BIRD MARY & DAVID GRIEVE SCOTLAND / DURATION 20’ / AGES 12+ / 2.45PM + 3.45PM Rod and shadow puppetry, immersive light-projections and music, telling a melancholic tale of other-worldly adventures and impossible love, taking inspiration from the Tom Waits’ song Fish and Bird. Each of these pieces has a strong visual narrative and little to no spoken dialogue. There is use of complex soundscapes to inform the story. Transcripts of songs’ lyrics, and descriptions of each piece are available to collect at the Basement.
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R I SIN G V O I C E S
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / BASEMENT
LAMP SWALLOW THE SEA SCOTLAND / DURATION 20’ / AGES 12+ / 4.15PM + 5.15PM Physical, absurdist, object theatre exploring the transmogrification of two lightshades – Samuel Beckett and Edward Lear’s lovechild with a live vocal score.
ISLAND HOME KATANARI SLOVAKIA / DURATION 40’ / AGES 12+ / 4.30PM + 6.15PM Combining storytelling, object theatre, puppetry, pop-up and art installation elements, short symbolic stories weave together themes about the search for acceptance, peace and one’s place in the world.
FINGER FATALE ELLA MACKAY SCOTLAND / DURATION 20’ / AGES 12+ / 4.45PM + 5.45PM A burlesque-inspired ‘hand-tease’, celebrating the fluidity, versatility and down-right sexy movement that a hand can perform. Big bravado with… a small appendage! Each of these pieces has a strong visual narrative and little to no spoken dialogue. There is use of complex soundscapes to inform the story. Transcripts of songs’ lyrics, and descriptions of each piece are available to collect at the Basement.
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R I SIN G V O I C E S
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / DECKING BAR
TEMPLE OF THE TATTIE TEMPORARY COMMONS SCOTLAND / DURATION 20’ / AGES 12+ / 2.15PM, 3.15PM, 4.15PM + 5.15PM A visual performance and installation, revealing one of this island’s possible near futures – a post Brexit, post a-crop-alypse – in which Guardians protect the last agricultural relic from happier times. Come! Cleanse your soles and pay your respects. Access information: manipulatefestival.org R I SIN G V O I C E S
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / OLD LAB
PITCH EVENT SURGE SCOTLAND / DURATION 60’ / AGES 12+ / 2.15PM Two work in progress performances from the recipients of 2019 Surge Bursaries exploring physical theatre in an indoor setting. Surge is Scotland’s developer of physical theatre, circus and street arts and runs Scotland’s largest street theatre festival – Surge. Access information: manipulatefestival.org
OBVIOUS UNREST FAUX THEATRE COLLECTIVE SCOTLAND / DURATION 40’ / AGES 12+ / 4.30PM A high impact low-tech exploration of the force and grip of intense mood. Text free visual theatre with live music. Access information: manipulatefestival.org
STORY OF NOW THIRD THREAD SCOTLAND / DURATION 30’ / AGES 12+ / 6.45PM Arriving in this moment, with ourselves, with each other, with you. We listen and respond to what is present, telling the story of now through movement, media, silence and sound. Access information: manipulatefestival.org 8
R I SIN G V O I C E S
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / ANATOMY
CANTO X FRONTEIRAS THEATRE LAB SCOTLAND / DURATION 40’ / AGES 12+ / 2PM Deep in the Circle of the Heretics, a forgotten philosopher lies in his grave. His tomb is on fire. He’s got the whole of eternity to spend inside his own mind… good job he has a sense of humour. Access information: manipulatefestival.org
BLACKOUT CONNOR BRYSON + CRAIG McCULLOCH SCOTLAND / DURATION 40’ / AGES 16+ / 3.30PM A dark comedy which explores the limits of a relationship between two friends who have no other options. When you’re put in the worst possible situation, can you still come out the same person? No spoken dialogue.
VERGE IS BURNING JAMIE REA SCOTLAND / DURATION 40’ / AGES 16+ / 4.45PM A man, an eccentric, stands on the edge, confronted with a choice. Choose who you are. Create your armour. Control whatever it is that confronts you. An eccentric man in a suit? What is real? Being human is burning. BSL integrated.
REMEMBER? NUNAH THEATRE SCOTLAND / DURATION 45’ / AGES 12+ / 6PM An innovative, site-responsive piece of physical theatre focusing on the unreliability of memory – the interpretations, the misunderstandings – with a mischievous narrative trying frantically to fit the pieces of a woman’s life together. Little to no spoken dialogue.
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PRODUCTION
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / MAIN HALL
SKETCHES KATIE ARMSTRONG SCOTLAND / DURATION 40’ / AGES 12+ / 7.30PM A series of short, intellectually and emotionally engaging vignettes. Chance encounters between two and three bodies. Each is set to and inspired by one movement of Bach’s Violin Concerto in A Minor played live by a string quintet and interspersed with responses created by composer and DJ Mariam Rezaei. Choreographer and performer Katie Armstrong trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. She has performed and worked for leading companies throughout the
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UK, including the National Theatre of Scotland, Company Chordelia/Scottish Opera and Turner Prize nominee Tai Shani, as well as creating work for the manipulate, Solas, Hidden Door and Merchant City festivals. Before this complete performance, each vignette can be experienced in separate, outdoor pop-up spaces around central Edinburgh. Please visit manipulatefestival.org for further details. No spoken dialogue, complex soundscape. This show requires the audience to be mobile. Access information: manipulatefestival.org
PRODUCTION
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / DISSECTION
TRANSFIGURED OCEANALLOVER SCOTLAND / DURATION 70’ / AGES 16+ / 8.30PM In 2002 on a country road, a pack of cards was thrown from a car window and over a hedge. While in the air the pack burst open and the cards were scattered across hedge and field and road. Some cards landed face up. The hand dealt that day has moved on and outwards into this moment. The cards have become manifest, they have something to say. Pick a card… any card…
One of Scotland’s leading visual theatre ensembles, Oceanallover utilises virtuosic, multi-layered music and sounds, striking physicality and movement, and elaborate and fantastical costumes to create dynamic new, collaborative work in its own inimitable style. A sounding together of all things, a cacophony, a diapason of understanding, performers and audience will step across a threshold of knowledge into a new world of the imagination and experience. A promenade performance with BSL integrated. Access information: manipulatefestival.org
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F IL M S
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / RED LECTURE
ANIMATED HIGHLIGHTS: 2019 EDINBURGH SHORT FILM FESTIVAL SCOTLAND / DURATION 55’ / AGES 12+ / 2PM We are delighted to welcome the Edinburgh Short Film Festival to curate another dynamic and vibrant programme of award-winning international short animated films. Alongside the Puppet Animation Scotland/Edinburgh Short Film Festival 2019 Best Animated Film Award winner, this programme presents a wide range of brilliant, award-winning new shorts which have featured prominently at leading international festivals over the past eighteen months. Full programme details: manipulatefestival.org
A TASTE OF QUEBEC FESTIVAL STOP MOTION MONTRÉAL CANADA / DURATION 55’ / AGES 12+ / 3.30PM Founded in 2009, Festival Stop Motion Montréal, the world’s first festival devoted exclusively to stop frame animation, presents a brilliantly diverse selection of some of the best short films made in Quebec over the past decade. Work by new emerging talents, as well as that of established artists, provides a glimpse of the dynamic creativity of filmmakers which makes the province one of the most important global centres of animated film. Full programme details: manipulatefestival.org Contains some nudity and sexual content.
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F IL M S
SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / RED LECTURE
PEARLY OYSTER PRODUCTIONS: A RETROSPECTIVE EMMA CALDER ENGLAND / DURATION 80’ / AGES 12+ / 5.30PM From potato prints to dancing clarinet reeds, the drawings of Eduardo Paolozzi to Queen Boudica, Roger Ballen’s photographs to the everyday challenges faced by one random person – a weird and wonderful programme of creatively diverse worlds and different styles of animation. Over the past thirty years leading UK animator Emma Calder has been dedicated to creating award-winning films. Making work which is
innovative, challenging and original, she loves that you can cram so many ideas into short animated films. Emma will introduce her programme and at the end of the screening there will be an audience Q&A. Full programme details: manipulatefestival.org These films contain little to no spoken dialogue and a strong visual narrative. There are no subtitles. We can provide an SLI for the Q&A on request by Monday 13 January.
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SUMMERHALL SATURDAY 1 FEB SCHEDULE DEMONSTRATION
2PM 15
OLD LAB
MA BICHE ET MON LAPIN (p5)
ANATOMY
RED LECTURE
CANTO X (p9)
ANIMATED HIGHLIGHTS (p12)
30 SURGE PITCH EVENT (p8)
45
3PM 15
BASEMENT GALLERY 1 JOURNEY (p6)
JOURNEY (p6)
MA BICHE ET MON LAPIN (p5)
30 45
BLACKOUT (p9)
4PM 15
A TASTE OF QUEBEC (p12) LAMP (p7)
30 45
OBVIOUS UNREST (p8)
5PM 15 30
VERGE IS BURNING (p9) LAMP (p7)
ERSATZ (p5)
45
6PM 15
REMEMBER? (p9)
30 45
7PM 15 30 45
8PM 15 30 45
9PM 15 30 45
10PM 14
ERSATZ (p5)
STORY OF NOW (p8)
PEARLY OYSTER PRODUCTIONS: A RETROSPECTIVE (p13)
USE THE SCHEDULE BELOW TO PLAN YOUR PATH THROUGH THE DAY’S EVENTS
BASEMENT GALLERY 2
BASEMENT GALLERY 3
MAIN HALL
DISSECTION
DECKING BAR
2PM TEMPLE OF THE TATTIE (p8)
TWA PIRATE QUINES (p6)
30 45
SHADOW BIRD (p6)
3PM TEMPLE OF THE TATTIE (p8)
TWA PIRATE QUINES (p6)
15 30 45
SHADOW BIRD (p6)
4PM TEMPLE OF THE TATTIE (p8)
ISLAND HOME (p7)
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15 30 45
FINGER FATALE (p7)
5PM TEMPLE OF THE TATTIE (p8)
15 30 45
FINGER FATALE (p7)
6PM 15 30
ISLAND HOME (p7)
45
7PM 15 30 45
SKETCHES (p10)
8PM 15 30 45 TRANSFIGURED (p11)
9PM 15 30 45
10PM 15
PRODUCTION
MON 3 – TUE 4 FEB THE STUDIO
AFTER CHEKOV SAMOLŒT FRANCE / DURATION 65’ / AGES 12+ / 7.15PM PRE-SHOW DISCUSSION / TUE 4 FEB / 5.45PM Once upon a time there lived three sisters. They lived in the middle of nowhere with only a vague sense of time. They existed as if in a dream and, for them, that dream was real life. They moved like sleepwalkers and danced as though chasing the last departing train. Like Siamese triplets they shared everything in each other’s lives, as though they were one. Experiencing an eternal present, they have no sense of a future. Can anything break the fractured rhythms of their everyday?
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Samoleœt is made up of a group of leading experimental visual theatre artists who harness their Russian training and heritage with contemporary western European techniques and concepts to create intriguing and emotionally powerful work. This production has been acclaimed at leading festivals throughout Europe. No spoken dialogue. Complex soundscape. We can provide a SLI for the Q&A on request by Monday 13 January.
PRODUCTION
MON 3 FEB SUMMERHALL / OLD LAB
MINA IMPROBABLE DOLLS ENGLAND / DURATION 45’ / AGES 16+ / 6PM + 7.45PM / POST-SHOW DISCUSSION / 8.30PM An experimental reworking of PAPER THIN, Nataly Lebouleux’s award-winning animated film. This piece uses an innovative cross-artform language and style to explore the controversial issue of conversion therapy and gay exorcisms; practices still used across the world today. Combining film, animation, physicality and sound, this enigmatic piece is fluid, layered and open to interpretation.
There will be a post-show discussion for audience members of both performances with the production’s creative team which focuses on the devising processes and themes which inspired the creation of Mina. This production is accessible to D/deaf and hard of hearing audiences through creative captioning integrated into the fabric of the piece throughout. BSL integrated throughout. Q&A BSL interpreted.
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PRODUCTIONS
MON 3 – SAT 8 FEB SUMMERHALL / CAFÉ
CABARET@MANIPULATE VARIOUS / SCOTLAND / DURATION 30’ / AGES 12+ / 7.45PM Join us each evening at our festival café from 7.00pm for socialising, drinks and informal cabaret performances presented by some of Scotland’s leading physical and visual theatre makers. There will also be late night music on Friday and Saturday, programmed in partnership with NEHH. We can provide a SLI for cabaret performances on request by Monday 13 January.
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E&N Sita Pieraccini / Mon 3 Feb
PICKLED REPUBLIC Ruxy Cantir / Tue 4 Feb
DATE NIGHT Lucy McGreal / Wed 5 Feb
LONG GREEN JAWS Thu 6 Feb
DRACULALA L.A.R.D.S. / Fri 7 Feb
CUCKOO – a snippet of Very Mild Peril Two Detectives / Sat 8 Feb
PRODUCTION
TUE 4 FEB SUMMERHALL / DEMONSTRATION
DREAMS OF THE SMALL GODS ZINNIA OBERSKI SCOTLAND / DURATION 50’ / AGES 12+ / 9PM Woman as animal, as human, as a goddess or spirit-being – visited by a horned magus – this creature is called upon to transform herself. Inspired by the mythologies of cultures from around the world, this piece celebrates our human need to create fantasy and legend, exploring how we fashion our own gods to help us make sense of the world around us. Zinnia Oberski is a Scottish-based performer, creator and wild circus artist, seeking to make diverse work of artistic and technical originality and innovation. This is her first appearance at manipulate. No spoken dialogue. Full nudity.
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PRODUCTION
WED 5 – THU 6 FEB THE STUDIO
A WIRE APART PAPER DOLL MILITIA SCOTLAND, USA / DURATION 60’ / AGES 12+ / 7.15PM PRE-SHOW DISCUSSION / THU 6 FEB / 5.45PM Does the ability to communicate anytime, anyplace, really help us to connect? How much stress and tension do you feel at times because you’re expected to be constantly “connected”? Does instant connectivity help our attempts to make meaningful relationships with our surroundings and our fellow humans? Or does it reinforce feelings of isolation and inadequacy as we reflect upon and react to connections made and lost?
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A dynamic exploration of the ways in which modern methods of communications affect us all, using dance, physicality, aerial acrobatics, tight-wire walking and original music. Since its formation in 2006 Paper Doll Militia’s innovative and exuberant approach to choreography and theatricality has captivated audiences around the world. The company has previously appeared at manipulate to great acclaim with EGG, UNCHAINED and UNHINGED. No spoken dialogue. We can provide an SLI for the Q&A on request by Monday 13 January.
PRODUCTION
WED 5 – THU 6 FEB SUMMERHALL / MAIN HALL
FAULT LINES TWO DESTINATION LANGUAGE ENGLAND / DURATION 75’ / AGES 12+ / 9PM PRE-SHOW DISCUSSION / THU 6 FEB / 7.30PM A fashion show on the fracture between feminism and fabric. A catwalk which takes you from Haute Couture to bargain bin, from big beats to near silence. Five diverse performers take to the stage on a catwalk like no other! Garments flow, stilettos break, hair is pulled up, let loose, let free! Jazzy moves, heartfelt stories and heart-throbbing energy fills the room. Navigate your own path through a performance featuring five strong women from different walks
of life. Using your mobile and headphones, choose between music and stories which offer contrasting positions on the parade of costumes and identities on stage. Curate your own journey through a runway show of people like you and people you’ll never know, with a soundtrack selected by you. Susan Sontag meets America’s Next Top Model. Two Destination Language makes intercultural dialogues in theatrical forms, creating award winning devised contemporary theatre and large community projects which tour around the UK and internationally. BSL integrated throughout. Q&A BSL interpreted.
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PRODUCTION
FRI 7 – SAT 8 FEB THE STUDIO
RAGNAROK TORTOISE IN A NUTSHELL SCOTLAND / DURATION 80’ / AGES 12+ / 7.15PM PRE-SHOW DISCUSSION / SAT 8 FEB / 5.45PM A golden age is ending. There have been three years of winter. The sun hangs low in the sky, unmoving, and the bonds of kinship are failing. The world is breaking... A young girl and boy battle to seek a future in a promised land, moving through a fractured world as dreams and reality clash around them. A collision of ancient myth and modern spectacle, inspired by the cyclical Norse myth of the same name, Ragnarok is a story of fate and self-determination, of gods and mortals, of the world’s end and its rebirth. Since forming in 2010 – and presenting its first ever performance at a Puppet Animation Scotland event – Tortoise in a Nutshell has developed into a multi-award winning visual theatre company that has presented its work to audiences with critical acclaim throughout the UK and internationally. Ragnarok has been created as an international co-production with Figurteatret i Nordland, Norway and in association with the MacRobert Arts Centre, Stirling. No spoken dialogue. Complex soundscape. We can provide an SLI for the Q&A on request by Monday 13 January.
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PRODUCTION
FRI 7 – SAT 8 FEB SUMMERHALL / MAIN HALL
OPEN THE OWL LUTKOVNO GLEDALIŠČE LJUBLJANA / CENTRE DRAMATIQUE NATIONAL D’ALSACE SLOVENIA + FRANCE / DURATION 50’ / AGES 14+ FRI 7 FEB / 9PM SAT 8 FEB / 5PM + 9PM PRE-SHOW DISCUSSION / SAT 8 FEB / 3.30PM A man is given the chance to gain all the worldly power and wealth he could possibly desire. All it will cost is the loss of his soul, something he doesn’t even think he needs, in this life or the next… A Slovenian version of Faust’s cautionary story. No matter how clever you may think you are, attempting to outwit the Devil is never a good idea…
An immersive production which combines the style, techniques and inspiration of pioneering Slovenian puppeteer Milan Klemenčič’s miniature theatre version of this classic tale with innovative contemporary filmic methods. Slovenian language with English surtitles. This performance requires the audience to be mobile. Seating can be provided on request. We can provide an SLI for the Q&A on request by Monday 13 January. Access information: manipulatefestival.org
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SN A P SH O T S: A R T I S T S @W O RK
TUE 4 FEB SUMMERHALL / OLD LAB
LA CÉRÉMONIE TORTOISE IN A NUTSHELL / COLLECTIF AÏE AÏE AÏE SCOTLAND + FRANCE / DURATION 40’ / AGES 10+ / 6PM The ritual of observance and procedures. A grand performance. Once voiced in isolation for a collective celebration… but no longer… a challenger rises. Join a troupe of ceremonialists as they battle to showcase the extravagance of ceremony through a riot of colour, music and objects. Leading companies from Scotland and France, Tortoise in a Nutshell and Collectif AÏE AÏE AÏE collaborate for the first time in a work in progress sharing that is a visual theatre feast for the senses. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A. Access information: manipulatefestival.org
SN A P SH O T S: A R T I S T S @W O RK
THU 6 FEB SUMMERHALL / OLD LAB
UP VISIBLE FICTIONS SCOTLAND / DURATION 40’ / AGES 12+ / 6PM The odds of perishing in a commercial plane accident are 29.4 million to one. Reassuring. Except if you’re the one. As emergency masks plummet, engines squeal and hand baggage flies from the overhead bins, two strangers hold hands. Scared and breathless, their lives flash past as they face their final moments together. Exploring themes of luck and choice, fate and coincidence and above all what it means to connect with someone, this work-in progress, created by one of Scotland’s leading theatre companies, is a fantasy table-top exploration where time is turned upside down and all the things that matter start to make sense. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A. Access information: manipulatefestival.org
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IND US T RY E V E N T
SAT 8 FEB SUMMERHALL / OLD LAB
CRITICAL RESPONSE PROCESS: A PRIMER TASHI GORE SCOTLAND / AGES 16+ / 2PM – 5PM Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process (CRP) is a method for giving and getting feedback on work in progress, designed to leave the maker eager and motivated to get back to work. Join us for a half day event where you will be able to participate in the Critical Response Process and see it being used as a tool for developing a work in progress – AFTER METAMORPHOSIS – as a way of giving audience feedback to artists.
2PM An initial CRP demonstration and workshop, involving cake. 3.30PM AFTER METAMORPHOSIS work in progress presentation, followed immediately by a CRP session. 5PM End
If you have access to an interpreter or would like us to provide one in order to attend the event, please send us a request by Monday 9 December.
AFTER METAMORPHOSIS LEWIS SHERLOCK + ALI MALONEY SCOTLAND / AGES 12+ / 3.30PM DURATION 45’ + 45’ CRP When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect… A choreography of movement, words, and visuals that look through the eyes of insects to both lampoon and celebrate humanity. This adaption of Kafka’s classic seeks to weaponize the surrealism of the original text into a wild rumpus: a satire of identity and conformity. Spoken dialogue.
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W O RK SH O P
FRI 31 JAN – SAT 1 FEB SUMMERHALL / TECHCUBE 0
METAMORPHOSIS: THE ANIMATED BODY NATALY LEBOULEUX & KIERAN SHEEHAN (IMPROBABLE DOLLS) ENGLAND / 10AM – 5PM A workshop for confident dancers and physical/ visual theatre practitioners which explores, in a cross-art context – the creation of new relationships between the animated film image and the performing artist. It will focus on the development of a character’s physicality and inner life. We will delve intensely into the creative potential of the relationship between sensation and imagination, using it as a dynamic tool for the unfolding and tracking of an animated story through the body’s movement in space.
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Working alone and in pairs, you will explore how your sensed responses to a variety of stimuli can allow you to: • Generate subtle performance qualities and emotional movement vocabularies • Increase your ability to activate your inner life in relation to the needs and demands of a character Using Nataly’s animated film PAPER THIN as source material, you will also gain insights into the creative process employed to create her production MINA. If you have access to an interpreter, or would like us to provide one in order to participate in the workshop, please send us a request by Monday 9 December.
W O RK SH O P
MON 3 – WED 5 FEB SUMMERHALL / TECHCUBE 0
NASTY PUPPETS GAVIN GLOVER UK / 10AM – 5PM SHARING / WED 5 FEB / DURATION 30’ / AGES 16+ / 5PM A workshop with leading puppeteer Gavin Glover for all inquisitive theatre practitioners – actors, dancers, puppeteers, physical theatre practitioners, film makers and directors – who want to discover the darker side of contemporary puppetry performance. In this physically intense but fun workshop we will explore the role of the performer and the puppet together, observe their relationship through some slightly disturbing scenarios and look at the emotions and the empathy that audiences can feel for a puppet.
We will experiment with different approaches to using puppets, find the moment when they become a metaphor of ourselves, and then subject them to the many emotions we wish we could impose on those around us. But the puppets will stand up for themselves, they will answer, and they will fight back! On the last day of this event the participants will informally share the explorations and discoveries they have made during the workshop. This is a free but ticketed event. If you have access to an interpreter, or would like us to provide one in order to participate in the workshop, please send us a request by Monday 9 December.
IMAGE CREDITS Cirqulation (p4): Polifilm Media // Ersatz (p5): Laurent Guizard // Island Home (p6): Pamela Raith // Finger Fatale (p7): Daniel Hughes // Canto X (p9): Cid D’Avila // Blackout (p9): Petre Dobre // Remember? (p9): Sarah Smart // Sketches (p10): Eoin Carey // Transfigured (p11): Gareth Easton // Dreams of the Small Gods (p19): Paul Maguire // A WIRE APART (p20): Carlos Hernan Aldous Solary // Ragnarok (p22): Eri Griffin // Open the Owl (p2-3, p23): Jaka Varmuz // After Metamorphosis (p25): Elly White
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Access information: manipulatefestival.org
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Take five experienced artists bursting with ideas, mix with six performers and two early career practitioners in a studio and await results – we welcome this renowned multi-art form creative lab to manipulate for the first time. Selected experienced artists come with a starting point for a new project. Each has the dedicated time to work on their ideas, as well as the opportunity to observe and collaborate with one another. After two weeks of exploration and experimentation the results are shared informally with an audience: this is your opportunity to see exciting new work take its first steps. This year manipulate and the Festival de Casteliers (Canada) are collaborating with Magnetic North to kick start a new collaboration at Rough Mix between two puppetry artists, one from Québec and one from Scotland. Magnetic North has run ten previous Rough Mix residencies, generating a wide range of work, including Magnetic North’s WALDEN, Andy Cannon’s SPACE APE, and Catherine Wheels’ WHIRLYGIG.
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