Patrick Kavanagh held that "through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder", but with the International Puppet Festival, playing at the Lambert Theatre, magic and enchantment can happen even when the puppeteer is working in full view of the audience.
Con Anima (translated as "with the soul", a reference to the dedication of the performer) enacts a simplified, miniaturised version of the Creation. Andras Lenart (from Hungary) uncovers his God, an impish, troll-like figure, in a mound of fine sand whence life springs. He unearths two tiny figures, one male and one female, draws them together under a tree, under which, as the mesmerising sequence draws to a close, dangles an apple.
It is an inversion of Happy Days, and there is an atmosphere of Beckett surrounding this pre-lapsarian piece.
All is accomplished in 20 minutes, on a space the size of a card table, lit by candles. God is no more than six inches tall, but vividly fashioned; His creations smaller than a little finger. The technique of manipulation (whereby the figure is controlled by wires from the back) is exposed - Lenart's dexterity serves simply to enhance the sense of wonder.
Albrecht Roser, a master of puppetry from Germany, enthrals in equal measure, primarily through superlative technique. In a series of sketches, he demonstrates how the world can be recreated in a stylised manner. He trades in surprises, playing again and again on the sense of curiosity and awe in his watchers.
His stork, "taking a morning walk", is spellbinding, as are a series of frogs, spiders, dancers, singers and clowns, a superlative Germanic granny and a professor lecturing in a totally comprehensible Esperanto: "Blah, blah, blah!"
The puppeteer just deals with wood and strings. Yet he seems to enter into a symbiotic communion with his materials. In one Spanish dance sequence Roser merely presents loose fabric in a manic motion; later he lifts the floor covering, so that the peg-leg of the haunting organ grinder reverberates accusingly through the auditorium; in bringing his famous creation, Gustaf, on stage, he animates the marionette so vividly that the audience becomes putty in the (wooden) hands of his prima donna.
The Lambert Puppet Theatre is a lively, Parnassian isle, with a lively festival club after the shows, and much more astonishment to come.
To book phone 01-2800974
