A dark reimagining of Lewis Carroll from Old Trout’s puppets
Staging of Jabberwocky pairs the poem’s monsters with 19th century toy theatres
Never let it be said that Old Trout Puppet Workshop shies away from obscure theatrical traditions.
For Jabberwocky, the Calgarybased company pairs Lewis Carroll’s titular poem with 19th-century toy theatres and scrolling panoramas.
“We’re basically puppeteering illustrations,” said Old Trout cofounder Judd Palmer. “In overall effect, it’s a pointlessly laborious version of an animated film created live before your eyes.
“It would’ve been so much easier to make an animated film. But that’s not what we’re in it for. We’re the anachronistic people.”
Jabberwocky opened in November in Edmonton. The latest production from Old Trout, the show comes home to Calgary Feb. 21 to March 4 before heading off to Spain, France and Scotland. Nicolas Di Gaetano, Teddy Ivanov, Pityu Kenderes and Sebastian Kroon make up what Palmer calls “the crack team of ninja puppeteers” in charge of the action.
Those familiar with previous Old Trout work will know to expect something they haven’t seen before. Old Trout, says Palmer, prides itself on reinvention. Previous shows include one that is a collection of scenes from historic puppet shows (Famous Puppet Death Scenes, 2011) and another about cooking and the French Revolution (The Last Supper of Antonin Carême, 2004).
“That’s the excruciating burden that we’ve lain on our shoulders,” Palmer said. “We want people to show up and not recognize it as an Old Trout show. We’re constantly experimenting in technique and esthetic, even narrative approach. This one is an extrapolation of this famous old strange nonsense poem about monsters and their slayers.”
This isn’t the first time Carroll’s poem has been used for inspiration. Author Lewis Padgett borrowed lines from the piece for his 1943 science fiction short story Mimsy Were the Borogoves. Czech animator Jan Švankmajer created a short cartoon out of the poem in 1971. In 1977, Monty Python animator/director Terry Gilliam’s Jabberwocky, a feature film pitting Michael Palin against the titular monster, hit movie theatres.
The Old Trout co-founder says that the ideas of incorporating 19th-century theatrical traditions and using Lewis Carroll’s poem went hand-in-hand. The author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland himself might have had a toy theatre like the one used in the production.
“They were like little cardboard theatres,” Palmer said. “You would buy a script and a book with cutout puppets. You’d come home and cut out the puppets and get your scissors out and cut out your puppets and put on the show.”
The toy theatres and panoramas that had to be created for Old Trout’s Jabberwocky, the production proved to be both technically challenging and laborious.
“The scrolling panoramas sound like a simple mechanical device, but trying to crank 150 feet of canvas along a spool without it bunching up on one end can prove to be apocalyptic when you’re trying to make a puppet show,” Palmer said.
As with previous Old Trout shows, Jabberwocky has its share of adult material. The suggested age is 13-plus.
“We go dark,” Palmer said. “On the surface, it’s a whimsical tale of a monster and a monster slayer. But what are the monsters that keep you awake, staring at the ceiling, unable to find peace? Those are the monsters we’re tackling. It’s not they would be traumatizing to a child. But they ’re not old enough to know what kind of monsters we’re talking about yet — the existential monsters.”
In overall effect, it’s a pointlessly laborious version of an animated film created live before your eyes.