Puppeteers of America Puppet Fest 2005 St. Paul, Minnesota July 24 to 30 www.puppetfest2005.org
After six months of monkish isolation on a ranch in southern Alberta, the Old Trouts managed to distill the fundamental truths of the cosmos into a piece they call The Unlikely Birth of Istvan. It’s an underground puppet production for adults, a grand unifying theory explaining birth, death, and everything in between—a fantastical visual poem about the essence of being human, from the perspective of puppets. It is an absurdist creation myth, equal parts Samuel Beckett and Jim Henson’s “Sesame Street.”
The play begins with a nightmare and ends with a miracle, careening through the profane, the divine, the magical, the surreal, and the sensual. On one level, it is the simple story of a conflict between a painter and a cook over a pig. On another, it’s about the war waged between Mind and Matter, the soul and the rumbling belly. It tackles, with childlike wonderment, the grand mystery of the formation of a human being.
With rollicking music and frolicking puppets, a colourful world unfolds in which the characters This and That battle for supremacy in the womb. The eternal conflict builds in desperation, as each strives for their own satiation. Finally, the world implodes into the metaphysical impossibility that is Istvan.
Istvan was presented by One Yellow Rabbit as part of the High Performance Rodeo 2000 and then again as part of their 2000-01 season. It was one of the top ten best-selling shows in OYR history and was invited to perform at the prestigious CINARS showcase in Montreal. Istvan has played in St. John’s, Newfoundland, at Ottawa’s Magnetic North festival, and most recently, at Toronto’s SixStages festival.
“Shoots straight to the most ancient part of us, where we feel love and loss wordlessly. . . .” —Fast-Forward Calgary
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Watch the Istvan Preview Video (12MB). Cable/dsl suggested.
