Puppets can divide opinion. For some, the skilled manipulation of the inanimate objects is a gift to be marvelled at, as they are brought to life and made to sit on swings, go for walks and even order coffee like miniature munchkins. For others, the realism is too much, tapping into Freud’s idea of the uncanny and bringing on nightmares more frightening than Jan Svankmajer’s Otesánek. If you find yourself siding with the latter, make sure you stay away from Highgate’s Jacksons Lane this November where puppets are most definitely the order of the day as Suspense takes over.
The Suspense festival is the first puppetry festival to take place in London in over 25 years and has a clear mission to show that not all puppets are child-friendly Sesame Street characters. Over the course of ten days, and at seven venues across London, the festival will present adult audiences with work from a variety of UK and International practitioners revealing the artform to be sophisticated, grotesque, irrational and, above all, incredibly potent.
Innovative dance venue Jacksons Lane will be showcasing three events from the festival’s programme providing haunting tales of chance, sickness and decaying old age from prominent British companies.
Starting with FaultyOptic’s Fish Clay Perspex, audience’s will be given the chance to see the London International Mime Festival veterans not only manipulate the puppets but also miniature armless figures, clay, pens and pieces of plastic as they present a collection of short ‘character studies’ musing on ideas of chance, doubt and turmoil providing audience’s with a compelling, spellbinding and, at times, revolting experience and a chance to suspend their disbelief and enter an alternate reality.
Second on the bill are South-western trio Full Beam Visual Theatre. Watching Strictly Come Dancing contestant Jo Wood (playing the defenceless, deserted woman with the theatricality of a pantomime dame) makes us all aware that the baby boomers - and Stones’ affiliated personalities - are coming to the point in their lives when they need to wave goodbye to their drugs-induced hedonistic days and instead settle down for a cup of cocoa and the Antiques Roadshow. My Baby Just Cares For Me explores the difficulty of looking after an older generation that doesn’t want to grow up and questions how to make life plans match up with pension plans.
Finally, Heartbreak Soup follows the story of a young boy caught in a limbo-like existence as he awaits transplant surgery. Spending his time under his hospital bed, Cuddy dreams of a time when he’ll be able to run and jump, shutting himself off from the drab confined surroundings he forced to inhabit. While it may sound serious and gut-wrenching, The Empty Space promise a heart-warming, uplifting experience for its audience.
Once again, Jacksons Lane show they are at the forefront of experimental performance in the capital’s current theatrical climate. While, there’s ongoing feuds between theatre companies, producers and the Arts Council, we are here shown that fear of the recession should not hamper creativeness.
Lily Eckhoff
Fish Clay Perspex runs from 30th – 31st October
My Baby Just Cares For Me runs from 5th – 6th November
Heartbreak Soup runs from 7th – 8th November
To book tickets contact Jacksons Lane HERE and for full programme details check out Suspense London Puppetry Festival site HERE
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