Joe Gladwin's Aladdin

Went with my daughter to see Joe Gladwin perform a 30 minute toy theatre Aladdin & His Wonderful Lamp at Tuttons Private Dining Rooms at Covent Garden. This show had been arranged by Peter Baldwin, who had been asked by the Covent Garden management to provide suitable Christmas-time entertainment.

It was a wonderful solo show, fast-moving (12 scenes), comical and entertaining- conforming in broad outline to the Arabian Nights tale we all know. Figures were based on 19th century toy theatre sheets by Pollock, Webb, Skelt and Green, blown up to a slightly larger size. Recorded sound for the music (which played constantly), but live voices and some live sound effects as well. A real tour de force.

My daughter and I spoke to Gladwin briefly before and after the show and got a close look at his set-up.

Gladwin backs his figures with acetate, attached to the paper by double-sided transparent cellotape. These are animated by sliders made from welding wire attach to wooden bases. All his figures are lined up stage left and right on pieces of paper where their names are written down. The script is on pieces of card that sit on the back of the proscenium. Footlights on the stage hide the sliders, and there are also lights above the stage and in front of the stage, as well as a row of 4 battery operated flickering candles directly in front of the proscenium. All the scenic backdrops have tabs attached to them, which allows for them to easily be taken out of the grooves.

Blind Summit's 1984

Went to see Blind Summit's new show, 1984, at the Battersea Arts Centre on Saturday night, after taking in the Little Angel show Petrushka. I'm reviewing the latter for Animations Online, but wanted to blog briefly about 1984.

Blind Summit, after the mainstream success of Low Life (based on Charles Bukowski's work), has made a huge reputation for collaborative work with companies around the UK. 1984 is its first major solo show since Low Life. (I was supposed to review a scratch showing of Call of the Wild at ROH a year or two back.) The company has intentionally embraced a low-tech approach to Orwell's book - using a variety of cardboard cut-outs and props, and much mime, along with a handful of puppets. They frame the story of Winston by having him and his lover Julia act out their tale with a propaganda troupe as part of their punishment. (Winston enters with a dunce camp with the words 'Thought Criminal' on it while Julia wears a cardboard signs saying 'whore').

The second half is too long (is this emphasis on torture due to Amnesty International being the show's sponsor?) but the piece is beautifully theatrical on the whole. 'The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism' is acted out at breakneck speed with carboard props; Charrington is revealed to be a puppet; Winston is hoisted up by other actors to make love to Julia.

Bukwoski, Orwell and Jack London... reads like the contents of a teenage boy's bedside bookshelf. I am enjoying this return to my own past...