VISUAL THEATRE FESTIVAL #9 29 JANUARY – 6 FEBRUARY 2016
MANIPULATEFESTIVAL.ORG
presents VISUAL THEATRE FESTIVAL 2016 Welcome to the 9th manipulate festival, Puppet Animation Scotland’s annual celebration of innovative international visual theatre and animated film. In a programme designed to entertain, inspire and intrigue we present performances from award-winning artists and theatre companies from all over the world. For the first time manipulate will also host the BRITISH ANIMATION AWARDS, which focus on the best of contemporary animated film in the UK, as well as a two day EMERGENT THEATRE CONFERENCE during which new theatre makers from across Europe will debate the particular challenges they face while attempting to establish themselves professionally. One of manipulate’s key roles, through our SNAPSHOTS: ARTISTS@WORK series, is to help nurture the development of new Scottish work. These free early evening events offer an intriguing insight into the creative process as leading artists such as AL SEED, LAURA CAMERON-LEWIS and SHONA REPPE present a flavour of their different current explorations and experiments. So we welcome you to manipulate and invite you to enter a vibrant and captivating world of the best of contemporary visual theatre and animated film.
AILIE CRERAR Festivals & Projects Administrator SIMON HART Artistic Director JEN WHITE Festivals & Projects Manager
TICKETS TRAVERSE THEATRE, EDINBURGH 0131 228 1404 www.traverse.co.uk Traverse 1 Performances Traverse 2 Performances Screenings BAA Screenings Pass 3 Show Pass Full Festival Pass
£16.50/13.50/8.50 £13.50/10.50/8.50 £8.50 £20 £42 £142.50
For other manipulate venues’ ticket and box office information please contact: THE LEMON TREE, ABERDEEN 01224 337 688 www.aberdeenperformingarts.com NORWICH PUPPET THEATRE 01603 615 564 www.puppettheatre.co.uk LITTLE ANGEL THEATRE, LONDON 020 7226 1787 www.littleangeltheatre.com
THANKS Puppet Animation Scotland is a small team and we would like to thank our Board members, festival volunteers, partners and staff, past and present, for offering their continuing expertise and encouragement. DESIGN: D8.UK PRINTER: J THOMSON COLOUR PRINTERS ANDY CATLIN: FESTIVAL PHOTOGRAPHER COLIN PURVES: FESTIVAL FILMS TECHNICIAN AND PROMO PRODUCER COVER IMAGE: CLOSE UP – AYSEDENIZ & EDITTA BRAUN COMPANY
“ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING SHORT FESTIVALS IN THE SCOTTISH CULTURAL CALENDAR” THE SCOTSMAN
manipulate VISUAL THEATRE FESTIVAL 2016
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CLOSE UP AYSEDENIZ & EDITTA BRAUN COMPANY/ AUSTRIA DURATION: 60’ SUITABLE FOR: 15+ MONDAY 1 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
UK PREMIERE
A grand piano, one pianist, five dancers: bodies together in concert. Creatures – constricted, distorted and oppressed – invade a musician’s perfectly harmonic world. High culture’s ivory-towered pursuit of perfection and everyday nightmarish fears and realities – perhaps the player’s alter-egos, or darker suppressed elements of her soul – meet and collide as thoughts and emotions, motivations and impulses, become incarnate. CLOSE UP, the final part of Editta Braun’s acclaimed trilogy, follows the presentation of LUVOS and PLANET LUVOS at previous manipulate festivals. As the virtuoso concert pianist AyseDeniz performs Thierry Zaboitzeff’s music –
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whose sound worlds are an integral element of the company’s work – dancers’ bodies lose their humanity and become impersonal entities, creating fascinating and captivating images and narratives which explore concepts of individual freedom and group identity, in a compelling and visceral piece of physical dance theatre. Since its founding in 1989 the editta braun company has presented its innovative work around the world with great success. Puppet Animation Scotland is delighted to present CLOSE UP at manipulate and to be one of piece’s production partners. This production has no spoken dialogue
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PLAY LOOK PAINT SHOOT ROSS HOGG/SCOTLAND DURATION: 75’ SUITABLE FOR: 14+ MONDAY 1 FEBRUARY, 9.00PM TRAVERSE THEATRE Focussing on key artistic concepts of inspiration, observation and experimentation, Scottish BAFTA-nominated animator Ross Hogg presents a programme of his own work – THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT (2013, 4’), SPECTATORS (2013, 4)’ and SCRIBBLEDUB (2014, 3’) – together with a selection of animated films which have inspired and excited him. This event will be hosted by leading Scottish animator IAIN GARDNER. Physical film making: With many of these films, the medium or process is as important and contributes as much meaning to their subjects as the intended narrative or concept. The two are often interlinked perhaps even inseparable.
manipulate VISUAL THEATRE FESTIVAL 2016
THE MAN WITH THE BEAUTIFUL EYES JONATHAN HODGSON, JOHNNY HANNAH/UK 2000, 6’ VELOCITY KAROLINA GLUSIEC/POLAND, UK 2012, 6’ NIGHTCLUB JONATHAN HODGSON/UK 1983, 6’ MY DAD MARCUS ARMITAGE/UK 2014, 6’ WIND ROBERT LOEBEL/GERMANY 2013, 4’ DOTS NORMAN MCLAREN/SCOTLAND, CANADA 1940, 2’ A MAN AND HIS DOG OUT FOR AIR ROBERT BREER/USA 1957, 2’ HOGAN PETER MILLARD/UK 2011, 2’ PLUMB CALEB WOOD/USA 2014, 3’ 00:08 YUTARO KUBO/JAPAN 2014, 6’
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LOOPSEND PAPER DOLL MILITIA/USA DURATION: 75’ SUITABLE FOR: 12+ TUESDAY 2 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
UK PREMIERE
Welcome to an otherworldly environment of theatricality and suspense where gravity is more suggestion than law. LOOPSEND – the love child of film director Tim Burton and American singersongwriter Trent Reznor – is an aerial theatre piece which explores the dynamics and dangerous fixations of a quirky ensemble, where friendships, cyclical oppressions and betrayals co-exist and mingle.
Both chaotic and neatly timed, the stage continuously transforms using diverse mediums and uniquely strung aerial apparatus. Enticing visuals, animation, shadow, and slide projections meld together with the performers’ vibrant and virtuosic physicality. 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 with UNCHAINED and UNHINGED to great acclaim. This production has no spoken dialogue
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MACBETH: WITHOUT WORDS LUDENS ENSEMBLE/CYPRUS DURATION: 60’ SUITABLE FOR: 12+ TUESDAY 2 FEBRUARY, 9.00PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
manipulate VISUAL THEATRE FESTIVAL 2016
Life...is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing... A stark and stylised performance of this most familiar of tales, of boundless ambition and greed and the destruction it ultimately wreaks. Visual technologies – videomapping projections and animation – accompanied by a dynamic DJ set and darkly brooding sound world, transform Shakespeare’s words and narrative into a visual language of potent and symbolic movement and imagery. This dramatic canvas of images also draws upon the theories of Bertolt Brecht and silent
era film aesthetics, creating an intriguingly alternative interpretation of Macbeth’s rapid rise to power and even more precipitous fall. Ludens Ensemble is an Edinburghbased theatre group which works with live music, masks, puppets, projections and animation, creating performances that ebb and flow between the aesthetics of critical distance and immersive experience. In 2017 MACBETH: WITHOUT WORDS will be performed in Cyprus as part of Pafos’ European Capital of Culture 2017 celebrations. This production has no spoken dialogue
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THE TABLE BLIND SUMMIT THEATRE/ENGLAND DURATION: 70’ SUITABLE FOR: 12+ SATURDAY 30 JANUARY, 7.00PM THE LEMON TREE WEDNESDAY 3 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM TRAVERSE THEATRE Moses. A cantankerous three man operated puppet with a cardboard head. He lives on a table. Tonight he wants to tell you an epic story about God and Moses, life and death, and puppetry...on a table. But Moses gets easily distracted... A cross between Tommy Cooper and Eddie Izzard, this table-top philosopher and comedian is the funniest piece of cardboard you will ever meet... on a table. Blind Summit Theatre - the makers of LOW LIFE, MADAM BUTTERFLY, A DOG’S HEART, 1984, and puppet directors for the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony – appear at manipulate for the first time with this internationally acclaimed, multi award-winning show. Founded in 1997 by Mark Down & Nick Barnes, Blind Summit aims to pioneer new methods of performing with puppets, in new places, in new ways, reinventing puppetry for new, modern adult audiences. This production contains spoken dialogue
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BIRDHEART JULIAN CROUCH & SASKIA LANE/ UK & USA DURATION: 45’ SUITABLE FOR: 12+ FRIDAY 29 JANUARY, 7.00PM THE LEMON TREE WEDNESDAY 3 FEBRUARY, 9.00PM TRAVERSE THEATRE SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM NORWICH PUPPET THEATRE SATURDAY 13 FEBRUARY, 7.00PM & 8.30PM LITTLE ANGEL THEATRE
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
An egg cracks open. A restless spirit emerges. What will it become? An intimate and stunning chamber piece of animated theatre created with a sheet of brown paper, found objects, shadows and a box of sand. A show about transformation, loneliness, and the urge to fly, BIRDHEART holds a mirror up to humanity. Through a series of animated images built in front of the audiences’ eyes BIRDHEART creates something achingly beautiful from the humblest of beginnings. BIRDHEART was commissioned by VisionIntoArt and National Sawdust’s Curator in Residence programme – part of the New Victory Labworks Artist Residency and Watermill Artist Residency, with additional support from the St Anne’s Warehouse Puppet Lab and the Henson Foundation.
Currently represented on Broadway with his Tony-nominated scenic design for HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, the world-renowned theatre designer, director and puppet-maker Julian Crouch has also wowed audiences with SATYAGRAHA (2008 – Metropolitan Opera, New York, USA) the devilishly delightful SHOCKHEADED PETER (1999 – London and internationally) and WOLVES IN THE WALLS (2007 – New Victory Theatre, New York, USA). With her band The Lascivious Biddies the multi-talented Saskia Lane has appeared with artists as diverse as Jay-Z and Beyonce, Marc Ribot and the Kronos Quartet. Together, Julian and Saskia, who have collaborated on several Improbable Theatre productions, team up to create their first project as duo puppeteers and performers. This production has no spoken dialogue
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THREADS THÉÂTRE INCLINÉ/CANADA DURATION: 65’ SUITABLE FOR: 14+ SUNDAY 31 JANUARY, 7.00PM THE LEMON TREE THURSDAY 4 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
UK PREMIERE
Listen, my love... Listen, my child... Listen to the river... Once there was a Mountain-Woman as white as snow, who washed away the woes of the world in the waters of her wide, wide river. One day in spring, she heard the cry of wild horses and the rattle of chains being forced into their noble mouths. One day later, amid awful sounds of metal and fire, the Mountain-Woman felt the War-Ogre’s anger as it climbed her flanks. Seen through the primal connection between a mother and daughter, this is the story of that spark of life which continues to burn brightly despite all the horrors endured by a broken land.
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A mythological tale that is on the side of life... For a modern world which is desperate for poetry. A celebrated and award-winning Quebecois visual theatre company, Théâtre Incliné seeks its creative inspiration through the exploration and synthesis of the myths and archetypes of other cultures. Over the past decade the company has developed a series of international co-productions with a wide range of leading artists from Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan and Norway. This is Théâtre Incliné’s first appearance at manipulate. This production contains spoken dialogue
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BIRD SITA PIERACCINI/SCOTLAND DURATION: 60’ SUITABLE FOR: 14+ THURSDAY 4 FEBRUARY, 9.00PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
A post-apocalyptic world. One lone, feral creature, starved of both food and friendship. With only a patch of soil to call her own, she must be ready to seize every small opportunity that might fly by... Created through inventive clowning, mime and visceral physicality, and enriched by a detailed and subtle soundscape which is performed live, BIRD is a timeless tale of friendship, courage, magic and madness, set in a vast and desolate world.
Sita Pieraccini is an actor and theatre maker with a background in visual art and music. After completing her degree in Sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art, Sita went on to study acting and physical theatre at the Physical Theatre Practice Course in Glasgow. As well as creating her own work, Sita’s recent credits include A BENCH ON THE ROAD (Charioteer Theatre) and SKEWERED SNAILS (Iron-Oxide). Sita is also a singer and bassist as part of Glasgow band, Teencanteen. This production has no spoken dialogue
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TORN FAUX THEATRE/SCOTLAND DURATION: 50’ SUITABLE FOR: 14+ FRIDAY 5 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
An intimate wordless world, where the audience become voyeurs. An exploration of the power of infatuation in a relationship, from fantasy and intimate attachment to loss. A poignant and powerful portrayal of one woman’s effort to find and experience love. A sensual and compelling visual theatre solo combining object theatre, kinetic art and an original live score.
Faux Theatre makes striking, visual theatre for children and adults. As well as TORN, which toured nationally and internationally in 2015, the company has also created CELESTE’S CIRCUS, a successful production for children which has been presented at venues throughout Scotland, and at the Tallinn Treff Festival 2013, in Estonia. TORN has been developed by the company over the past three years with financial support from Puppet Animation Scotland’s Creative Fund and Creative Scotland. This production has no spoken dialogue
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BRITISH ANIMATION AWARDS 2016: PUBLIC CHOICE AWARDS 1 DURATION: 90’ SUITABLE FOR: 14+ FRIDAY 5 FEBRUARY, 9.00PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
This year manipulate is very pleased to present the three programmes of work making up the 2016 edition of these influential biennial awards which celebrate the best animated shorts, commercials and music videos created by British filmmakers in the previous eighteen months. Together they provide a dynamic snapshot of the great diversity and fantastic quality of contemporary British animation in all its forms and styles. Many of these films are already award winners at prestigious international film festivals. For full details of each programme please visit manipulatefestival.org from Monday 11th January 2016. Details of the screenings of BAA Programmes 2 & 3 can be found on page 14. Your chance to vote for winners of the British Animation Awards 2016: At each screening voting forms will be handed out and you will be able to choose your favourites. You don’t have to attend all three to be able to vote. As well as these Public Choice Awards peer group juries also make selections, together providing British filmmakers with greater visibility and promotion, and enabling audiences to see their work on the big screen. Previous BAA winners include Tim Burton and Nick Park.
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GOBO. DIGITAL GLOSSARY AKHE THEATRE/RUSSIA DURATION: 55’ SUITABLE FOR: 12+ SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY, 7.30PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
SCOTTISH PREMIERE
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Hurtling through seventeen sketches at breakneck speed, immersing you in a surreal world of theatrical tomfoolery, experience factual scenes – or perhaps flights of fictions - from the life and times of Gobo, an emphatically un-heroic hero. Using lasers, cameras, shadows and an array of bizarre handmade contraptions, the two characters at the chaotic centre of this show create a stream of comic, touching and stirring images. In their world of constant tinkering and playful experiments, explorations and examinations unfold with childish curiosity and frenetic energy. And as connections are examined and perspectives altered, this
playful romp transforms itself in the hands of two dexterous performers into a forceful, intricate and absorbing piece of visual theatre. AKHE is a theatre group from St Petersburg with a potent international reputation as celebrated masters of the avant garde known to push theatre to its very limits. The company’s members are multi-disciplinary artists, creating visual art and directing films in addition to their provocative and vibrant work in theatre. In 2015 AKHE appeared at manipulate for the first time with its production MR CARMEN. This production has some spoken (Russian) dialogue
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BRITISH ANIMATION AWARDS 2016: PUBLIC CHOICE AWARDS 2 DURATION: 90’ SUITABLE FOR: 14+ SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY, 2.00PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
BRITISH ANIMATION AWARDS 2016: PUBLIC CHOICE AWARDS 3 DURATION: 90’ SUITABLE FOR: 14+ SATURDAY 6 FEBRUARY, 9.00PM TRAVERSE THEATRE
Spend Saturday in the dark enjoying an eclectic mix of short animated films, music videos and adverts created over the past eighteen months which together provide a vivid current picture of the breadth and dynamism of the UK’s animation sector. Your chance to vote for winners of the British Animation Awards 2016: At each screening voting forms will be handed out and you will be able to choose your favourites. You don’t have to attend all three to be able to vote. As well as these Public Choice Awards peer group juries also make selections, together providing British filmmakers with greater visibility and promotion, and enabling audiences to see their work on the big screen.
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ANIMATING THE INANIMATE: EXPLORATIONS WITH EVERYDAY MATERIALS AND OBJECTS JULIAN CROUCH & SASKIA LANE/ UK & USA SUNDAY 31 JANUARY – TUESDAY 2 FEBRUARY 11.00AM – 4.00PM, DANCE BASE This masterclass will explore the use of the puppetry techniques and live animation which were the inspiration for Julian Crouch’s and Saskia Lane’s production of BIRDHEART. Focussing on the use of everyday materials and simple movement qualities and impulses, the masterclass will demonstrate how to bring the inanimate vividly to life through collaborative improvisation. It is suitable both for beginners and experienced practitioners, and will involve both performance and some simple making of puppets. Julian Crouch is a UK born, Brooklyn-based independent director, designer, writer, puppet and mask maker, teacher, illustrator and musician, whose international, multi award-winning career has spanned theatre, opera, ballet, film and television. Saskia Lane is a Julliard-trained bassist, composer, performer and educator, whose work around the world spans many genres, from ranging classical theatre to groundbreaking musical experimentation.
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THE LOGIC OF MOVEMENT STEPHEN MOTTRAM/ENGLAND WEDNESDAY 3 – FRIDAY 5 FEBRUARY 10.00AM – 5.00PM, DANCE BASE
This intensive practical masterclass will explore in depth why people and objects move through space in the way that they do, and how understanding this helps the puppeteer - and other stage practitioners using movement of whatever kind in their performance practice - to express ideas more successfully through dynamic visual means to an audience. During the masterclass participants will develop conscious approaches to creating vivid and credible movement with puppets and objects, and will identify and explore key concepts and issues about non-verbal communication through movement. Stephen Mottram is an artist, craftsman and puppeteer. Since 1988 he has developed a unique theatrical language that creates a vivid symbiosis between electro-acoustic music and the power of movements as image. His productions - THE SEED CARRIERS (presented at the first manipulate festival in 2008), IN SUSPENSION and ORGANILLO are the results of detailed collaboration with the composers with whom Stephen works, and have been acclaimed by audiences all over the world. Stephen has also worked on a number of films, including THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, TALES FROM THE DECAMERON and STRINGS.
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EMERGENT THEATRE CONFERENCE: PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS AND PERFORMANCES X10 DURATION: 180’ WITH INTERVAL SUNDAY 31 JANUARY, 5.00PM, TRAVERSE THEATRE, £10
This compact two-day conference featuring ten ambitious emerging theatre makers from across Europe aims to promote further cultural understanding and meaningful future collaboration through conversation, debate and action. During the Sunday public session each of the delegates will present a three minute performance-based creative response to a significant obstacle they face working in the arts environments of their countries. Together these ten short pieces will provide dynamic and imaginative insights into the challenges these leading young international theatre artists aim to overcome as they develop their working practices and creativity, and establish themselves professionally.
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DAVID STEVENSON (Programme Leader MA Arts, Festival & Cultural Management, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh) and HUGH HODGART (Director of Dance, Drama, Production & Screen, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow) will frame the event with short provocations before LAURA WOOFF, the conference’s originator and organiser, presents the conclusions and future plans which her and fellow delegates have agreed upon during their discussions and debate. For further details about the conference programme and the delegates’ biographies please visit manipulatefestival.org from Monday 11th January 2016.
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DAILY DIARY
TRAVERSE ONE
Sunday 31 January
Monday 1 February
CLOSE UP 7.30PM Page 3
Tuesday 2 February
LOOPSEND 7.30PM Page 5
Wednesday 3 February
THE TABLE 7.30PM Page 7
Thursday 4 February
THREADS 7.30PM Page 9
Friday 5 February
TORN 7.30PM Page 11
Saturday 6 February
GOBO.DIGITAL GLOSSARY 7.30PM Page 13
TRAVERSE TWO
DANCE BASE
EMERGENT THEATRE CONFERENCE
MASTERCLASS: ANIMATING THE INANIMATE 11.00AM Page 15
KEEP THE CROSS HIGH 6.05PM PLAY LOOK PAINT SHOOT 9.00PM Page 4
MASTERCLASS: ANIMATING THE INANIMATE 11.00AM Page 15
MACBETH: WITHOUT WORDS 9.00PM Page 6
MASTERCLASS: ANIMATING THE INANIMATE 11.00AM Page 15
BIRDHEART 9.00PM Page 8
MASTERCLASS: THE LOGIC OF MOVEMENT 10.00AM Page 16
THE BOUFFON-TRAGEDY PROJECT 6:05PM BIRD 9.00PM Page 10
MASTERCLASS: THE LOGIC OF MOVEMENT 10.00AM Page 16
WINNIE HOPPER 6:05PM BAA PROGRAMME 1 9.00PM Page 12
MASTERCLASS: THE LOGIC OF MOVEMENT 10.00AM Page 16
BAA PROGRAMME 2 2.00PM Page 14 HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN 6:05PM BAA PROGRAMME 3 9.00PM Page 14
manipulate Visual Theatre and our visiting companies gratefully acknowledge the support of the following partners and organisations:
KEEP IN TOUCH @manipulatefest #manipulate Puppet Animation Scotland www.manipulatefestival.org