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Les Antliaclastes (France)

LA VALSE DES HOMMELETTES

 

TEATRO NACIONAL D. MARIA II - Sala Estúdio

17 May at 9.30pm (Thu) | 18 May at 7.30pm (Fri) | 19 May at 4.30pm (Sat)

 

Portuguese Premiere

TICKETS ONLINE

Technique: String puppets and masks Language: Some words in Portuguese For audiences over: +6 Running time: 60 min.

 

Inspired by the Brothers Grimm tales, the unique creator Patrick Sims transports us into a fabulous universe, situated somewhere between Alice in Wonderland and a cabinet of curiosities, a world inhabited by mischievous and disturbing mutants.

 

The phantasmagorias of this puppet piece take place in a puppet theatre with an ingenious mechanism: a giant Swiss cuckoo clock. The clock reveals its secrets at the twenty-fifth hour, where mischievous goblins get involved in the destiny of men. A bird mother and a rabbit-hunter father who are really surprised by their offspring, a shoemaker and his wife whose shoes get fixed while they are asleep and a mother who puts into practice an original recipe to find her wooden baby. Masked characters give life to marvellous stories through the manipulation of miniature string puppets.

 

"Beautiful, inventive, hallucinating: La Valse des Hommelettes, puppets and lunatic tales (...).
A poetic and crazy show (...). A unique blend of masks and puppets, which interweaves folk tales and meta-history. It is a very different journey, which invites the spectator to daydream. A wonderful mechanic to discover at any age!
(...) It is constantly mad, absolutely funny, deliciously irreverent, but, above all, it contributes powerfully to remove from the spectator any desire to rationalize or cling to its familiar points of reference and the result is to surrender from therefore, which does an extraordinary good.
The manipulation of several string puppets is very well done, in spite of their complexity, they are often small in size and with many commands, and some glove or wire puppets seemed to us absolutely perfect (...).
A show with a great aesthetic, truly singular, with humor and, at the same time, very poetic, with an extraordinary execution and a true technical wealth: What more could one ask for?”
-Mathieu Dochtermann, TouteLaCulture.com *****

BIO

Les Antliaclastes are based in Maillet, France. The company is under the direction of Patrick Sims. Les Antliaclastes use a unique blend of puppetry techniques and styles, masks, machines, and original organic soundtracks, bringing together artists and technicians from the United States, Germany, England, Ireland and France.
Patrick Sims (b.1975, Vermont USA) has been working on puppetry since 1994. He first became involved with puppets whilst studying film and animation at Middlebury College, USA. He has worked with Bread and Puppet Theatre, studied shadow puppetry in Java, and pursued a Phd at Trinity College Dublin with a thesis on the ‘Pataphysics of the Puppet, Alfred Jarry and the inhuman performer. For 5 years he was the artistic director, writer, puppet-maker and puppeteer for Buchinger’s Boot Marionettes, that participated in FIMFA in 2008. He is currently artistic director of Les Antliaclastes with whom he is engaged with several projects, including film, theatre, installations, music, and a multimedia electronic opera.

 

CREDITS

Concept, direction and puppets: Patrick Sims Performers: Josephine Biereye, Patrick Sims, Richard Penny Puppets, masks, costumes and props: Josephine Biereye Scenography, props, machines and mechanisms: Richard Penny, Nicolas Hubert Sound universe: Karine Dumont Lighting design and stage management: Sophie Barraud Voice over: Monique Brun, Olivier Francfort Photography: Jean-Pierre Estournet, E. Dubost Production: Les Antliaclastes. Company subsidised by DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with the support of Conseil Départemental de l’Allier

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