NEXT PERFORMANCE: at the Magnetic North Festival in Ottawa, June 14 – 18.
The Old Trouts tackle the classic tale of a puppet, his maker, and the cruel world. Donning their leather aprons and clutching their chisels, the Trouts tremulously bring to life the mysterious miscreant Pinocchio, and from their sawdusty workshop he emerges to wreak havoc and magic upon the world.
The original story by Carlo Collodi is quite different from the Disney version we all know—it is more fantastically surreal, more provocative, more exuberant. The Old Trouts attempt to capture the spirit of Collodi, while bringing the story into relief as the wondrous psychological conundrum it is.
The familiar elements are all there, and some unfamiliar ones as well: Geppetto receives an enchanted log and makes it into a puppet, which leaps from his hands and launches forth on a series of bizarre adventures—the puppet theatre of Mangiafoco, the Fox and Cat in the forest, the Sea Monster, the Circus Ringmaster, the Green Fisherman, and finally his redemption at the hands of the Blue Fairy.
The set is a baroque stage-machine, thundering and creaking and whirring, a vast apparatus for turning puppets into real boys. The band, David Rhymer and Jonathan Lewis, bang away with gusto on accordions, pianos, harmoniums, and violas. The Blue Fairy flies across the stage. All unfolds with singing and prancing and dozens of puppets, ranging from marionnettes to bunraku to the Trout trademark head puppet.
The production is at once spectacle and story, art and extravaganza. Children are welcome, and adults find themselves child-like again. And in the end, Pinocchio becomes a real boy.
LINK: Magnetic North Festival
LINK: Pinocchio had it's World Premiere at Alberta Theatre Projects, November 30 – December 27, 2004
Read more press and reviews about Pinocchio.
PRINTABLE DOWNLOADS:
Reviews and Press (RTF Word Doc - 48 KB)
Old Trout Promotional Package (PDF - 312 KB)
