Visual Theatre Festival 3 - 7 February 2009. Traverse Theatre

Ticketing InformationEvening Performances £13/£8/£5Conversation, Screening & Snapshots £6/£4Masterclasses Contact Puppet Animation Scotland for further details

Box Office Opening TimesMon-Sat, 10am-6pm

How to bookFace to face: Traverse Box Office Cambridge Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2EDOnline: www.traverse.co.uk Telephone: 0131 228 1404

Concessions are available for students, under 18s, over 60s, members of entertainment unions, StagePass and Young Scot card holders. The Registered Unemployed concession is available for anyone in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance or Disability Living Allowance

Remember to bring proof of your concession status when you pick up your tickets

ReservationsUnpaid reservations can be held for five days until one hour prior to performance

LatecomersPlease ensure that you allow sufficient time for your journey to the Traverse as latecomers will not be admitted

Access at the TraverseLevel access, automatic doors at Cambridge Street entrance, lift with Braille signage and audible announcer, adapted toilets at ground and Traverse Bar Café levels, wheelchair spaces, assistance dogs welcome, infra red (headsets available from the Front of House staff) and induction loop systems are all available

Puppet Animation Scotland presents

manipulate Visual Theatre FestivalWelcome to manipulate, our annual celebration of exciting and inspirational international visual theatre performance. Presented by Puppet Animation Scotland and Projector Animation Festival, in association with the Traverse Theatre, this is object theatre and animation of the highest award-winning quality for consenting adults!

For manipulate, we have worked together to explore and celebrate the close relationships in theory and practice between the art forms of puppet theatre and animation. Companies from Belgium, England, Germany, Scotland, Spain and the USA present a varied programme of performances, masterclasses and events designed to entertain, to challenge, and to inspire. Leave your pre-conceptions at the door and enter a colourful, complex and thought-provoking world of the best of innovative international theatre

Simon Hart - Artistic DirectorEmma Whitters - Administrator

Tuesday 3 February | 7.00pm | Traverse Theatre Two | Paul Zaloom (USA)

The Politics in Puppets:A Conversation

Join us for the opening event of the manipulate Visual Theatre Festival 2009, a conversation with Obie Award-winning American puppeteer, actor, humourist, political satirist and all-round larger-than-life gadfly, Paul Zaloom

Beginning his career with the world famous company Bread and Puppet Theater, in 1971, Paul’s eclectic, politically orientated and highly idiosyncratic work, has been seen and enjoyed by audiences all over the world. Come and enjoy, and be inspired, by a unique and highly entertaining artist who talks for a living, and find out what the P in puppet really stands for

Join us later in the evening for a screening of his film, Dante’s Inferno, and tomorrow for a performance of Paul’s latest production, The Mother of all Enemies

He appeals to audiences with the humour of a mischievous child who has just returned from the landfill covered with dirt, his hands full of goodies for a game of show and tell New York Times (USA)

No matter how hard you throw a dead fish into the water, you can’t make it swim Paul Zaloom (USA)

Tuesday 3 February | 9.30pm | Traverse Theatre Two | Director: Sean Meredith (USA) 2007

Screening : Dante’s InfernoCreated, co-written and performed by Paul Zaloom with the voices of Dermot Mulroney and James Cromwell, Dantes’ Inferno melds the seemingly disparate traditions of the

apocalyptic live-action graphic novel and charming Victoria-era toy theatre. This is a subversive, darkly satirical and very funny update of the original 14th century literary classic

There’s enough of the divinely comic in this ‘Inferno’ to justify a pair of sequels Boston Phoenix (USA)

Feels like the unholy offspring of Judge Dredd and Robert Crumb LA Times (USA)

Presented in partnership with the Projector Animation Festival

Wednesday 4 February | 7.30pm | Traverse Theatre One | Compagnie Mossoux-Bonté (Belgium)

Twin Houses

Wednesday 4 February | 9.30pm | Traverse Theatre Two | Paul Zaloom (USA)

The Mother of all Enemies

Imagine finding yourself invaded by a multitude of beings who act through you without asking your opinion

They grab hold of one or another part of your body, they creep in between your intentions and your gestures, emitting contradictory voices and they initiate strange discourses and courses of action...

Twin Houses, a many faceted monologue, presents Nicole Mossoux and five articulate mannequins, in a confusion of thought

and action where one no longer know who holds power over whom, who is the actor and who is the mannequin

Since its premiere in 1997, this production - Nicole Mossoux’s and Patrick Bonté’s only foray into the domain of animated forms - has toured continuously to great acclaim across the five continents

We are delighted to welcome the company back to Scotland after the success last year of Light!

WHAT?...A strongly scatological and fiercely funny mutation of the traditional Middle Eastern Karagoz shadow puppet play, about the consequences of being on the fringes of society…EVERY society

This is a no holds barred illumination of the perverse workings of our “civilization” in all its glory with a full frontal comic assault

WHO?...The idiot savant Karagoz, an Arabic secular humanist/Quaker/Buddhist/agnostic/political refugee/immigrant/queer/artist/weirdo, foils the evil plans of the Syrian Secret Service, Israeli border guards, Al Qaeda, Homeland Security, the Statue of Liberty, Christian “ex-gay” activists, and

the U.S. immigration vigilantes - the Minutemen, dispatching them all one by one with subterfuge, obfuscation and cheap puppet gimmicks. They all fail; he triumphs

HUH?...Interspersed into the action, employing his weird and amusing drawings, Zaloom recounts the U.S. Marines’ repeated efforts to recruit him in the aftermath of 9/11...at 54 maybe he’s sorta old for the Marines... He’s also gay…and maybe certain family connections won’t go down too well either...It’s all comedy, and needless to say it’s all true Spoken text and explicable gestures

could not begin to define the nebulous sensibilities that this show brings into focus. It nudges at the very beingness of being. If this is the way puppetry is going, then three cheers Independent On Sunday (UK)

A very startling piece of visual theatre: eerie, sinister, erotic, like a cross between the Gothic horror of Edgar Allan Poe and the imaginistic strangeness of Belgian surrealism The Guardian (UK)

If you have never seen the great and sincerely scathing Paul Zaloom in action, here’s your chance...you’ll laugh till you cry The New York Times (USA)

Continuously pell-mell, Zaloom, displays it all via cartoonish shadow puppets…impishly racing behind that small screen, accompanied by his lickety-split narration and goofy voices…the giddy energy of his street theater style is a delight… The Washington Post (USA)

Thursday 5 February | 7.30pm | Traverse Theatre One | Jordi Bertran (Spain)

Poemes Visuales

Friday 6 February | 7.30pm | Traverse Theatre One | 1927 (England)

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

A poet appears on stage with a suitcase...full of foam rubber letters. Playing with the shapes, and beginning to discover the sounds which their forms suggest, he realises that every letter can create an intrinsic poetry of pictures and meaning without the need for words

The poet finds a tender relationship with these letters. They come to life and create a world filled with characters and with humour, movement and dramatic action where letters are not only black and white symbols on a page but come delicately to life, fashioning a world of magical simplicity and beauty

You are invited on a dark and strangely beautiful journey through enchanting, skewed and sinister landscapes. Hapless cats, marauding gun-toting gingerbread men, homicidal sisters and some sinister, cross-dressing twins all make their unsettling appearances

Using the aesthetic of silent film, a series of comic vignettes unfold in which ashen faced characters interact seamlessly with antiquated animation and live music

1927’s multiple award winning production cleverly combines sensual, powerful storytelling of the macabre with stunning films and animation, creating a singular entertainment inspired by the weird creative vision of American artist Edward Gorey, the films of David Lynch, with a twist of the seamy glamour of Weimar cabaret

This show first set sail in 2007 and has since travelled to New York, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Singapore, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Slovenia, and quite a few places in between...

Letters manipulate and transform: the letter i is a boy who plays with an e, who is a dog. The y and the u work together to create a stylish dancer, and the simple t performs as a rather impatient and belligerent trampoline artist!

This show, which has been seen all over the world, has been created by one of Spain’s master puppeteers, and is inspired by the magic of Catalan playwright, poet, graphic designer and artist Joan Brossa’s visual poems

This work is a magical spectacle...the spectator is continually transported by the beauty of the images that unfold before our eyesLa Casa (Spain)

A very special show that by giving life to simple letters creates a humorous and tender world full of touching emotion and striking simple beauty Le Monde (France)

A wonderfully surreal step outside everyday life The Scotsman (UK)

A devilishly good piece of work The Guardian (UK)

The Miser Snapshots : Creation & Play

Harpagon is a penny-pinching, grouchy old man. His grown-up children are costing him far too much money and must be married off...but he is determined not to pay for the weddings

Harpagon’s most valuable asset is far too precious to be spent on the inessentials of life, and having spent a lifetime accumulating it, he is determined to protect his investment at all costs...so begins this sparkling, up-dated adaptation of one of French dramatist Moliere’s most famous comedies

Whether in 17th century France, or in this version set in contemporary Spain where water is at a premium and every character is a tap, the basic human instincts and behaviour of greed and covetousness are just the same, and their unintended consequences are very funny!

Over the past four years leading Spanish company Tabola Rassa has performed this uniquely quirky and engaging adaptation of a classic dramatic text with stylish and expertly manipulated object animation to great acclaim all over the world

King Pest & Night Flyer The Paper Cinema (England)

Two intriguing tales from a delicate, magical world made in the meeting of puppetry, cinema and music, a place of adventure, fun and mystery

The Fugue of Pazzy Villycar 1927 (England)

“Farewell Mamma! My milk moustache is dry. I’ve placed my boyhood upon a pedestal and waved him goodbye. Snip! Snip! my roots are cut!”

Daphne Sokobauno (Scotland)

There’s a sorrowful sound in the riveters’ blow as they’re riveting rivets for their brothers laid low...”

The New Not New Ailie Cohen (Scotland)

“The ragpicker worked in silence and never looked at anything that was whole...What could one do with a complete object? Put it in a museum. Not touch it. But a torn paper, a shoelace without its double, a cup without saucer, that was stirring...”

Presented in partnership with the Projector Animation Festival

It’s not every day an audience is entranced by a characterisation of the ingénue Cleante delivered with consummate skill and humour by a shiny chrome tap La Republique (France)

A charming contemporary adaptation in which seemingly inert everyday objects come humorously to life, exposing our all too human foibles in a way Moliere would strongly approve of. Enchanting Gara (Spain)

Saturday 7 February | 7.30pm | Traverse Theatre One | Tabola Rassa (Spain) Saturday 7 February | 9.30pm | Traverse Theatre Two | Various

The Miser will also be touring: Thursday 12 February - Lemon Tree, Aberdeen | Friday 13 February - Lochgelly Centre, FifeFor further details: www.puppetanimation.org

A cabaret, a scratch, a smorgasbord of beautiful, challenging and thought-provoking visual performance interspered with short animated films

Tuesday 3 - Thursday 5 February | 9.00am - 5.00pm | Traverse Theatre Two | Norbert Goetz (Germany)

The Language of the ShadowAn intensive three day masterclass that explores the use of light in shadow theatre as a dynamic, highly mobile resource capable of creating the most beautiful and striking effects. Over the past decade Nobert Goetz and his company, Theater Der Schatten (Theatre of Shadows), have been in the forefront of these exciting developments, and he has performed and led masterclasses all over the world

This masterclass will articulate the fundamental relationship between light and shadow in theory and in practice, with particular emphasis on the manufacture and manipulation of robust and flexible light sources suitable for the rigours of small and medium scale touring, and at the same time, capable of the most powerful and original effects This event will encourage participants to discover and work practically with these dynamic and vivid styles and techniques for themselves

Friday 6 & Saturday 7 February | 9.00am - 5.00pm | Traverse Theatre Two | Plutot La Vie (Scotland) 2007

Playing with the AudienceThis two day masterclass will explore how puppeteers can develop playful, direct relationships with their audiences, drawing on the concept of the personal clown, as originally developed by Jacques Lecoq and Pierre Byland

This workshop will provide an introduction to and a practical exploration of the necessary physical skills used in theatre clowning: comic timing, rhythm - internal rhythms, a character’s rhythm and rhythms with fellow performers - and how these skills can fundamentally inform and enrich a puppeteers’ own working practice. Tim Licata and Ian Cameron have extensive backgrounds in physical performance, improvisation, clowning, mime and masks, working together with their visual theatre company, Plutôt la Vie. Their most recent production, A Clean Sweep, has toured Britain and internationally

Things have a life of their own, it’s simply a matter of waking their soulsGabriel Garcia Marquez

Puppet Animation Scotland is dedicated to the advocacy for, and the development and the celebration of the art forms of puppetry and animation in Scotland

In addition to the manipulate Visual Theatre Festival Puppet Animation Scotland also presents the Puppet Animation Festival. The 2008 event was the 24th annual celebration of puppetry and animation in Scotland. From its origins during 1984 as a week of performances in Edinburgh, this year the Festival lasted for six weeks, presenting 318 events provided by 26 companies in 143 venues throughout Scotland to 18,980 people

The Puppet Animation Festival is the largest and oldest performing arts event for children and young people in the UK. Performance spaces range from city centre theatres, to urban community and arts centres, to the smallest village halls. The Festival has a network of partnerships with 27 local authorities, as well as a wide range of venues throughout the country, each of whom programmes what is most appropriate for its audiences

Puppet theatre is a thriving art form in this country, with a strong and lively sector of professional companies and practitioners. Since 1999 Scottish puppeteers have presented 15,368 performances and workshops for 1,211,960 people in the UK (Figures - Puppet Animation Scotland: Annual Surveys, 1999-2007)

As well as its two national festivals Puppet Animation Scotland also supports the professional puppetry community in a wide variety of practical ways, providing over £50,000 a year through its various funds for the creation of new work, travel, training and other continuous professional development opportunities

For details about the Puppet Animation Festival 2009, or any of our other activities:

www.puppetanimation.org