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LAT Children’s Puppet Festival
Based on Kafka’s letters to a small child, this is not just a delightfully captivating puppet show for children, this is a crafted work of art the whole family will enjoy.Summary
Rating
Unmissable
Legend has it that author Franz Kafka, renowned for his bleak and absurd perceptions of society, one day met a small girl in the park who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. After helping her look for it without success, Kafka returned the next day with the first of a series of letters from the doll, which explained she had set off on an adventure but had not forgotten her friend. Lottie the Travelling Doll by String Theatre is an utterly captivating telling of these stories.
Lottie, attached to a kite, is swept away by a gust of wind and travels far and wide. Her reports on her adventures reveal exciting locations, and she meets a variety of creatures, all made possible through the magic of puppetry.
The show is aimed at ages 5-11 and mostly uses traditional long-stringed marionettes, which are unusual to see these days (partly because this is an endangered artform). In a world of iPads and CBeebies my first thought was “will small children really sit through this style of entertainment?” I should not have doubted for a second, because the audience was utterly captivated throughout!
Expertly performed by Alfonso Lázaro, Jess Shead and Soledad Zárate, several puppetry techniques are deployed, along with a creative use of stage space that keeps the action interesting and varied. The whole thing is carefully lit by Lázaro, to provide a consistent, stunningly beautiful aesthetic. From the very beginning we’re drawn into an intriguing world, as skilful shadow puppetry introduces Sophie and Lottie, using searchlight-style spotlighting to focus on the key elements of the backstory. It’s playful, like a game of hide and seek, and sets the tone of anticipation for the coming adventures.
I never cease to be amazed by the skill required to perform with marionettes, and here String Theatre make it look effortless as from a great height overhead they give detailed life and personality to Lottie, a monkey, a crab, and even a flying dragon. Tiny, nuanced movements wonderfully capture their unique characteristics, and you can’t help but smile at the unlikeliness of these objects so perfectly being given life. The puppets themselves are excellent: simple and suggestive in appearance, they engage the audience by allowing them space to imagine who the characters are and what they are like. At times, tiny magnets enable them to connect as if by magic, and a brilliantly performed circus routine just defies possibility.
A delightfully slapstick subplot performed by glove puppet circus owners has the audience laughing out loud. And throughout the tale, Sophie is given presence in shadow form, waiting for the postman, as time ticks along and she gets older, whilst Lottie’s adventures continue in another space and time.
The writing is beautifully considered, building in multiple interesting environments to give texture and propel the tale along. Lottie’s postcards are projected between scenes to transition across locations and to address themes intended to give comfort to Sophie in her time of loss. They supportively tell of finding your own way, friendship and loyalty, identity, freedom and adventure – reframing sadness using an alternative perspective. Each scene slots neatly in to the overall structure, before revealing some smartly executed, satisfying resolutions at the end.
And if all that wasn’t enough Jimmy Sheals’ truly outstanding soundtrack beautifully assists in telling this non-verbal story by creating wonderfully sympathetic atmospheres and energies that lift your soul.
Lottie the Travelling Doll is a simply exquisite production that draws you in to a magical world of adventure and reinvention. It’s not only a lovely story and a great puppet show but genuinely a work of art. Don’t miss it!
Concept by: Soledad Zárate
Directed by: Mikel Fernandino Hernández
Voiceover artist: Sadhbh Marshall-Coghlan
Music and sound by: Jimmy Sheals
Light design by: Alfonso Lázaro
Glove puppets by: Mikel Fernandino Hernández
Marionettes by: Soledad Zárate
Lottie the Travelling Doll is aimed at ages 5-11 years and runs at Little Angel Theatre until Sunday 18 August. Details and how to book can be found here.
