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Assembly Roxy – Upstairs
A bewitching bedtime story with a fantastical plot and mind-blowing shadow puppetry skill.Summary
Rating
Unmissable!
Confession time, and I feel a bit stupid now. I had the chance to see Mochinosha Puppet Company‘s work at last year’s Edfringe but couldn’t find the time to review them. I now know I should have made time. Shadow Kingdom is a truly amazing piece of work that elevates shadow puppetry to enormous heights, and keeps the whole audience gripped, on the edge of their seats.
The show is created and performed by Canadian Daniel Wishes and Japanese Seri Yanai. It uses close to four hundred – yes you read that right – FOUR HUNDRED shadow puppets, which over the course of an hour are animated live to create a virtually cinematic storytelling spectacular.
It’s a thrilling epic fantasy, full of action and pace, in which we meet a young girl name Minerva. She can’t put her smartphone down for a second, even at bedtime, so when it is snatched by Hypnos, the God of Sleep, she desperately follows it to a magical kingdom. Here, it turns out sleeping is not allowed and everyone is exhausted. As a human child she is the only being with the power to overturn this, and we follow her on a quest to empty the Chamber of Undreamt Dreams.
The story is intelligent and witty, suitable for adults and children alike, with a brilliant comic book feel to it. With only two people executing the puppetry in real time the performance is a mind-blowingly complex task, but it is completed with amazing dexterity. It’s not simply a matter of waving some sticks in front of a torch – they further animate all the movements using cross-fades and articulated puppets, so it takes real skill, and even include their own hands in the shadows. Sometimes the puppets must be quickly swapped between performers within the same scene. Each piece is exquisitely crafted, with tiny details often accentuated by transparent colour fills. And all the while Wishes and Yanai are performing multiple characters in different voices.
Visually it’s stunning work, and there’s a fabulous crossover between traditional artforms and unusual modern themes, including showing smartphones and a DJ’ing slug (called DJ Slug – top man!). There’s even a poo emoji! Can’t say I’ve seen that before in shadow puppetry… The accompanying soundtrack by Elliott Lorans is equally complex and appealing, giving a whole extra dimension to the story.
This show has everything – a fabulous story that’s suitable for the whole family, beautiful and intricate puppets that could double for works of art, humour, wonderfully atmospheric music and slick performance. I just need a time turner now so I can go back and watch it again!
Written by: Daniel Wishes
Directed by: Seri Yanai
Music by: Elliott Loran
Produced by: Mochinosha Puppet Company
Shadow Kingdom played as part of EdFringe 2023. Further information about the show and company available here.
