Ronnie Burkett at Fairfax Studio
until
October 18- 27, 2002
Reviewer:
Kate Herbert
Puppets are
not for kids. Never have marionettes been so wicked, moving and overtly
political as in Ronnie Burkett's, Tinka's New Dress. In Burkett's
adroit hands they are bawdy and achingly funny.
He is
overwhelmingly talented. In this virtuoso solo performance he manipulates
thirty-seven puppets and plays every character. He also
designed set, costumes and marionettes and wrote this extraordinary piece of
theatre.
Many
elements make this an exceptional night in the theatre. It is the meeting of
fine artistry and challenging content.
The plot
revolves around Carl, a disenchanted left-wing puppeteer in a world ruled by a
totalitarian government called The Common Good. It smacks of Orwell's 1984 or
the Nazis.
Carl is a
mouthpiece for Burkett's own socio-political views. Although Tinka's New Dress
is set in non-specific time and place, the story is based on the Czech
puppeteers of the Resistance.
It is a
world of repression, censorship, fear of difference and of free speech. The play is
a commentary on artists, activism and resistance.
Carl, with
his costume-designer sister Tinka, leaves his mentor and friend, Stephan, the
elderly puppeteer, to perform his own show at an underground cabaret. His
controversial critique of The Common Good leads to his arrest and demise.
It is
unnerving to find oneself so moved and engaged by tiny wooden figures.
Burkett is
visible throughout. He is charismatic, looming over his miniature creatures,
manipulating strings, animating their uncannily human behaviour.
Character appears in divers costumes. He
blithely swings each from a horse on the central merry-go-round and magically
breathes life into it.
He is
totally absorbed in this world. His timing, like his craftsmanship, is
impeccable.
He peoples
the stage with credible, adorable and villainous characters: Morag, the gaspingly accurate drag queen, Mrs. Van
Craig, Tinka, Stephan, Franz and Schnitzel and Madame Rodrigue, the fat diva.
His ability
to sustain a parade of diverse accents, genders and complex dialogues is
awe-inspiring.
The puppet
play within the play, The Franz and Schnitzel Show, is bawdy outrageous and camp comedy. Burkett
improvises on each night. Like a camp stand-up comic. He is hilarious.
He taunts
the audience, makes us participate. He manipulates us as well as his little
people.
He peppers
the script with jibes at local identities. Kerryn Phelps copped a mention. Who
knows who might get it next from this master manipulator.
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