Theatre / bristol festival of puppetry
Review: Drifters (Puppet Fest)
Discovery, loss and companionship are explored in Strange Arrangements’ visually delightful show that effortlessly combines physicality, puppetry and mime.
Three drowned sailors, Hans, Joey and William, find themselves washed up in Davy Jones’ Locker. To keep themselves amused before they can escape their purgatory existence, they enact scenarios – the hardship of weathering a storm at sea; the terrifying fear of a dark cave with an unseen monster; the wonder of fishing in a swirling dark ocean. Taking ordinary materials combined with a huge dose of imagination and a wonderfully haunting soundtrack, these scenes become intensely alive.
The puppets are sad and scary creatures fashioned from brown paper; the inky waters of the ocean at night is a huge plastic bin bag with fans creating rolling, swirling waves from which illuminated jellyfish are plucked. The spectacle of a shooting star show is created with coloured torches synchronised through the blackness.
is needed now More than ever
The suffocating intensity of three men stuck in this half-life is felt intensely and the three characters are sketched deftly – German Hans, the brilliant puppeteer always close to suicide; Joey the French simpleton; and William the naive young English sailor.
Punctuated throughout with dark humour, Drifters embraces the wonder of imagination and leaves behind images bathed in pathos that will haunt your dreams…
Bristol Festival of Puppetry continues until Sunday, September 6 at various venues. For more info, visit www.puppetplace.org/festival and see our preview here.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
