Uniquely enchanting, this playful paper puppetry brings pages of news joyfully and imaginatively to life!Rating
Excellent!
Why just ‘read all about it’? Why not, instead, bring the news vividly to life with imagination, creativity, and craft? At Well Walk Theatre, internationally acclaimed company Les Anges au Plafond do exactly that in The Daily Scream (Le Cri Quotidien), literally lifting stories from the pages of a newspaper and allowing us to understand and enjoy them via a delightfully innovative adventure.
As the audience takes their seats, Camille Trouvé follows us into the small theatre, removes her jacket and sets to work reading a huge newspaper in the darkened room, lit evocatively by close-up lamps. Only, rather than labour, this turns out to be an enormously playful practice.
Her words are initially difficult to comprehend as she concentrates on the text, a mix of English and French, but we understand her responses to what she’s reading, invited to lean in to different ways of understanding her tales. She’s quickly joined by Sandrine Lefebvre, carrying a cello and a whole extra level of atmosphere.
As we watch, Trouvé not only recounts the news aloud but also releases the broadsheet’s stories, tearing holes in the fabric of the paper world to allow tiny characters to pop up, which she then voices in a vibrant and charismatic performance. It’s easy to get lost in the magical storytelling as she turns pages and propels us through diverse scenarios. Pulling surprising paper props from within the scenes, like Mary Poppins emptying her carpet bag, she mixes images, sounds and visuals intricately. We visit a room full of disputative politicians exclaiming familiar quotations from history and pop culture. There’s then drama as paper cars and their chatty passengers are involved in a shocking incident. Some of the scenes make us laugh before leaving us with challenging questions to think through: a chicken processing factory, themes of urban expansion, gambling, and a sinking ship that leaves a massive oil slick – clearly a reference to the ill-fated Concordia. There are dark moments here, but it’s captivating.
The performance itself blends interesting techniques, from pop-up settings to impressive shadow puppetry that brings the walls of the auditorium to life. A live flame in a Middle Eastern story adds a thrilling moment of jeopardy amidst the paper. And with only 55 seats in this exquisitely intimate venue, everyone gets a close-up view of the detailed action as they lean in to watch.
Lefebvre’s cello supplements the experience with rich depth, adding shifting atmospheres and a sensory element; you can almost feel the music as it resonates through the fabric of the theatre. Her playing is enigmatic and unusual, experimentally offering strings played backwards and intriguing harmonics. We come to expect the unexpected, which is a beautifully receptive place to be.
The Daily Scream is a production with appeal to both adults and children, inviting them to engage at whatever level suits them. Indeed, the younger members of the audience appeared fascinated by the revelatory storytelling and tiny puppets, each sleight of hand or small character made of paper places creative possibility within their own imaginative reach. Performed alternately in French and English, this is a uniquely enchanting production you will want to watch again and again, or perhaps even imitate yourself at home.
Layout and folding: Brice Berthoud
Book construction: Camille Trouvé
Music: Sandrine Lefebvre
The Daily Scream (Le Cri Quotidien) has completed its performances at The Well Walk Theatre
