Puppets on parade,
Almonte readies for ninth version of popular festival
When night steals over Almonte’s Old Town Hall southwest of Ottawa this Saturday, a bunch of puppets could be engaging in some shocking behaviour.
They — and their human masters — are in town for the ninth annual Puppets Up! festival.
It’s a family-friendly event running in multiple venues Aug. 10 and 11, but come Saturday night those puppets hit the risqué button for an adults-only cabaret. “It’s fun, it’s unexpected,” says the festival’s artistic director Noreen Young.
“Puppetry is for adults as well as children, but people in North America don’t get it. Europeans do. We try to promote all aspects of puppetry.”
Saturday night’s show comprises short skits by the 10 troupes performing at this year’s daytime festival as well as a longer piece, My Big Fat German Puppet Show, by Frank Meschkuleit.
While we can expect some naughty puppet behaviour, just what it will be is anyone’s guess.
“We ask each troupe to do a threeto-five-minute piece, but we don’t know what they’ll do,” says Young. “It’s more a jam than a cabaret.”
A couple of years ago, she adds, Meschkuleit did an adults-only show at the festival that was in “incredibly bad taste” but was gobbled up by the audience.
The 8 p.m. show, which usually sells out quickly, includes a pre-performance cash bar.
During daylight hours, it’s a very different sort of festival.
The puppeteers, who this year come from Canada, the U.S. and Europe, include Budapest, Hungary’s András Lénárt. Mikropodium, his short show for all ages, blends music and puppetry using small, wire-controlled puppets including a clown, a ballerina and a couple of dolphins.
Young says it’s unlike anything she’s ever seen.
Other performers include the sibling-based Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers from Bar Harbor, Me.
The troupe, which is presenting The Legend of the Banana Kid, has performed at seven of Almonte’s nine festivals.
Those puppeteers are in good company: half of the 10 companies have played the festival before. Hence the “family reunion” theme of this year’s event.
In festivals, notes Young, not every show is necessarily a hit.
Returning companies, however, generally mean returning quality.
The festival also features free street entertainment including wandering puppets, clowns, face painting, stilt walkers, musicians and a puppet parade on Mill Street, Almonte’s main drag.
“Puppets appeal to the kid in everyone,” says Young. “Puppetry is kind of basic to our DNA.”
This year’s daytime shows: Little Red Riding Hood, Puppets to Go. One of this year’s returning companies. A humorously cock-eyed version of the classic tale. For young children and their families. Pierrot & the Moon, Meta-Physical Theatre. This gentle production features actors, shadow and hand puppetry, mask, and a rat named Louis. A Good Old Fashioned Punch and Judy Show, Petersen Puppets. A new, hand puppet version of the classic Punch and Judy stage show. BAM, Théâtre des Petites Âmes. Montreal-based troupe presents two shows daily in English and one in French for very young children. The Budapest Marionettes, Bence Sarkadi Theatre of Marionettes. A wordless performance by this Budapest, Hungary-based performer. Mikropodium, András Lénárt. Small, unusual puppets in a 20-minute show presented five times daily. Spin Cycle, Heath Tarlin Entertainment. An audience involvement show blending puppetry, juggling, ballet on stilts and more. The Dragon King, Tanglewood Marionettes. This underwater fantasy is based on Chinese folklore. Tanglewood Marionettes play the festival for the third consecutive year. More Of Everything Revival Hour, More Of Everything. Short puppet pieces and music define this show for older children and adults. The Legend of the Banana Kid, Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers. Both the troupe and the show — about a cowboy, a goat and some bananas taking on a bunch of bad guys — have played the festival before, but audiences apparently can’t get enough of them.