Theatre review: Ronnie Burkett's interactive marionette show is an experience audiences won't soon forget
Credit to Author: Shawn Conner| Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2020 00:27:47 +0000
When: until March 1
Where: secret location (revealed to audience members before the show)
Tickets: from $94 at tickets.thecultch.com
The first tip-off that this is not your average puppet show is the venue: a “secret location.” But then, fans of Ronnie Burkett know to expect the unexpected.
The Alberta-raised puppeteer has gained international renown since forming Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes in 1986. He has travelled the world with his groundbreaking, adult-themed shows such as 10 Days on Earth and the marionette vaudeville show The Daisy Theatre. Audiences have embraced characters like Penny Plain and Billy Twinkle as much as any real-life fictional counterparts.
In Forget Me Not, we are introduced to hunchbacked circus master Zacko Budaydos, his put-upon assistant Nutzo Baad, the painted lady Miss Willow, and “guy with the chicken hat” King of Birds. We also meet Me, Burkett’s character, and She, The Keeper of the Lost Hand.
Fans will recognize the latter as a typical Burkett kind of character — a flamboyant, straight talking grand dame not afraid to look life in the genitals.
Ronnie Burkett’s Forget Me Not is on until March 1. Picture: Dahlia Katz.
Forget Me Not tells at least two stories. Much of the main story seems to take place in The New Now, a time when written language has been lost and love letters are a symbol of rebellion. To get a letter, one must visit She, the Keeper of the Lost Hand.
Each of the 100 audience members is given their own puppet, handed out (pardon the pun) early on. These cloth and papier maché extras become a chorus of “others” in ceremonies and rituals; the stakes in this puppet-world are high, we learn early on.
Half the fun of the show is learning how to interact with it and follow Burkett’s directions. He is an intense performer, sometimes operating at a fever-pitch as he moves through the space during the nearly two-hour show, possessed by his own brand of marionette-mania.
The secret location is not a theatre. Chairs and benches have been set up but audience members are required to jockey for better vantage points as Burkett roams around. Hearing everything and following the story can be a challenge.
Themes of repression, fascism, freedom, storytelling and communication come up during Forget Me Not, which jumps between stories, from audience interaction to pure showmanship, and from emotion to emotion. Forget Me Not also manages to be about this moment in history, in a non-didactic and sometimes brutal way.
John Alcorn has written and recorded original music for the show, which has been pressed onto 7” singles. Audience volunteers or an assistant play the 45s on a turntable.
This was my first exposure to a Burkett show. Talking afterwards with a fan, I was told each show is different, but that this one is unlike anything he has done, at least in terms of audience participation. But going by my own (lack of) experience, you don’t need to have seen a previous Burkett production to be transported into the world he has created.
“Journey” is an overused word but perhaps the best one I can find to describe Forget Me Not. It will likely move you in unexpected ways. Burkett will likely move you (literally) in unexpected ways. The puppets are alive. The heartbreak, when it comes, is real.
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