Tuesday 28 August 2012

The Fantasist by Theatre Temoin

Wow!  So glad I took a punt on this one, although it was not on the curated list.  This appears to be a French physical theatre and puppetry company who are making very powerful and exciting work. 
The piece explores the bipolar disorder of its main character Louise, using brilliant effects, puppetry, physical theatre and original music.  The two other cast members are puppeteers but also play other characters in the piece.  It is engaging, intriguing, entertaining with moments of humour and moments of darkness.  It draws real distinctions between the world of normality and the word of fantasy, but then cleverly blurs them at the edges sometimes so that the audience are allowed to stare down into the abyss of mental breakdown (the chasm in the pavement) alongside the main protagonist.
Another standing ovation (the second of the morning!!) and well deserved too.  Would be an interesting one to tour.  Again possibly a hard sell for rural touring, although my promoter who saw this show with me was absolutely bowled over too - she dashed off after the show, but will be interested to see whether she would book them for her venue!!  That will be the proof of the pudding!

Review by Gill Vickers

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