Roman Paska – Dead Puppet

USA

Schoolboy Play

TEATRO NACIONAL D. MARIA II
Sala Garrett

28, 29 May at 9.30pm

Author and direction: Roman Paska Puppeteers: Roman Paska and Gabriel Hermand-Priquet Scenography and costumes: Roman Paska and Donna Zakowska Lighting design: Stephen Strawbridge Sound design: Paul Prestipino Photographs: Nick Mangafas Techhnique: Mista Mixed For audiences over: M/14 Time: 70 min. Language: English

Schoolboy Play or “There is no Subject”, based on the premise that two of the 20th-century’s inescapably monumental figures, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Adolf Hitler, were schoolmates at one time in Austria, this production of a new work written, directed and performed by Roman Paska was originally created for performances during Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture.


Evoking the world of an imaginary boys' school suggestive both of an English boarding school and a secondary school in Central Europe at the turn of the 20th century, the piece portrays the interplay of a heterogeneous trio of puppet "schoolboys" who, inspired by a common fascination with the exotic worlds encountered in boyhood literature from popular fiction to Shakespeare, act out salient moments from their diverse, yet all strangely conceivable fantasy lives. But while two of the three puppet characters overtly resemble iconic historical figures, the play in due course focuses with humorous detachment on the growing pains and little mental dramas of the mysterious third, who, to borrow a phrase from Wittgenstein, “can hardly be said to exist".

Schoolboy Play with text, direction and manipulation of Roman Paska, who presents again an interesting artistic project, establishing new relations between moving images and animated objects. Considered one of the great puppetry masters, by his perfectionism, recreates himself each time, in each sequence, in each detail, which give to its shows a peculiar magic realism.

Roman Paska is a writer, director and puppeteer whose original productions have been developed under two successive company names, Theatre for the Birds and, more recently, Dead Puppet. These works include his own plays, The End of the World, Dead Puppet Talk, and Beethoven in Camera, while he recently directed Strindberg's Dreamplay for its centenary at the Stockholm Stadsteater. For several years he was director of the Institut International de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières, France, and his Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy, a poetic documentary with John Turturro, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September.

Videos: Roman Paska - Dead Puppet (other shows)