Trial & Theatre (Finland)

We are invited into a basement laboratory right in the middle of a physicist’s experiments. Bare eye cannot fathom the scale of microparticles, until we open their world up with the help of microscopes and other tools. A new and unexpected universe, different in each performance, but which produces fascinating moments. The world’s smallest puppet theatre comes to life!

Nano Steps - Into the Lab combines science and object theatre. A group of puppeteers harness the methods of applied physics on the stage, introducing new practices, such as microscopic puppets, through the manipulation of microparticles using both sound waves and electricity. The performance as not science fiction, but rather a fiction of science.

Nano Steps is a series of performances created in a close collaboration between artist and scientists. Trial&Theatre began an artistic research that started with a question: what could be the smallest puppet in the world? The company indulged in a meandering and unpredictable research process, during which they called world-famous professors and traveled to Cornell University, to Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and to laboratories of Aalto University.

^{“Romantic object theatre, cool club vibe and precision of laboratories melt together in an irresistible way.” - Helsingin Sanomat}

^{“A mesmerising theatre show (...). It combines puppetry with physical research in a fascinating way.” - Maria Säko, Helsingin Sanomat ★★★★}

^{"Puppet theatre under the microscope.}

^{In the darkness of Studio Pasila, audiences observed something quite extraordinary (...). With help from Aalto University's Department of Applied Physics, the world’s smallest puppet theatre came to life. Instead of having a traditional puppet on stage, the performance is based on physics, specifically on the manipulation of microparticles using both sound waves and electricity (...).” - Tiina Forsberg, aalto.com}

BIO

Trial & Theatre is a new, process-oriented performance collective concentrating on experiments and a conceptual approach to puppetry. Nano Steps is their first foray into the world of physics and material sciences, as well as their first series of staged pieces. The objective of the group is a free and unruly process of research in which the performances of science and puppetry collide, and blur each other’s boundaries.

The project has produced two performances: Nano Steps - a Particle Performance which premiered at the Helsinki City Theatre in Finland, and was a resounding success of audience and critics; and Nano Steps - Into the Lab, which premiered in Alfred ve Dvoře in Czechia, before touring Finland and other countries.

CREDITS

_{Direction: Aati Hanikka Dramaturgy: Iiris Syrjä Sound design and musician: Valtteri Alanen Performer: En Ping Yu Lighting design: Jere Suontausta Photography: Jussi Virkkumaa, Miika Storm, Michael Lozano, Danas Macijauskas Created in collaboration with: Alfred ve dvoře, FZU Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Cornell University, Aura of Puppets Support: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Aura of Puppets, Samuel Huber’s Art Foundation} 

_{www.trialandtheatre.com}