Author Archives: Adam Bennett

About Adam Bennett

Adam Bennett is a professional puppeteer, theatre maker, dramaturg and performance tutor. His 30-year career has seen him tour and perform professionally in Australia, Asia and Europe, as well as develop and manage shows for DNA Puppetry and Visual Theatre, The Western Australian Youth Theatre Company, and Little Angel Theatre.

Charlie Tuesday Gates: Sing For Your Life

This show has a classic Edinburgh Fringe attention-grabbing premise: a musical where the characters are made from dead animals. Described as roadkill meets X-Factor, this four-performer, two-musician show takes the classic musical theatre plot (a bunch of performers want to put on a show as we watch the impresario corral the talent and deal with the egos involved) and gives it an original twist. For all the characters are puppets made either from the pelts of dead animals or occasionally from dead animals themselves… but more about that soon.

The songs are well sung, practised, and entertaining as the puppeteers concentrate fiercely on operating the puppets which it has to be said is not easy to do, as they have understandably floppy bodies (they are just pelts after all) and the heads have been modified with eyes that are larger and more cartoon-like, as well as moving lip-synch mouth action. They are thrown about enthusiastically by the puppeteers who, while lacking huge amounts of manipulation skills, have total focus on their puppet charges.

The plot of the show involves a menagerie of depraved yet talented wild animals at the bottom of the garden convincing a pet dog to join their troupe in order to lure the dog’s owner into their plan. In the end the plan succeeds and the human is summarily despatched in an oddly different but effective mask sequence. In between we see and hear the all-singing all-dancing troupe of badger, fox, cat, mink, squirrels, and chickens pastiche various songs, styles, and genres of music and musical theatre.

You’re either going to not mind the whole dead animal thing and go with it or probably not come; let’s assume that you have the stomach and disposition to roll with it. Sometimes the show gets away with it and it’s witty, entertaining, and wildly inappropriate. Every once in a while it becomes startlingly tasteless, pushing the premise just a bit too far, most notably when the mink ‘strips’ and a carcass is brought out to entertain and shock in equal measure. The night I was in there was a distinct and noticeable lack of clapping at the end of that number, just silent shock and a little disbelief. If you’ve come for bad taste, this show is unmissable.

Presented by The Vaults

Daniel Bye: Going Viral

This intimate show staged in the round has Daniel Bye sitting with us as much as standing in the space. A simple grey circle of carpet taped down in the middle seems to define the performing area and it’s telling that as Daniel talks he spends almost all of his time not standing on the carpet, but on the outskirts or sitting in the seating among the audience.

This act of storytelling on the face of it concerns an outbreak of weeping, spreading from a flight into England from abroad. Daniel spends some time using simple props to illustrate what a virus is and how it spreads, and the story of a man who was on the original flight runs in parallel with the story of a woman who is investigating the outbreak.

Very subtle lighting (Katherine Williams) and sound punctuate the performance which is told with wit and assurance by Daniel Bye. Sitting somewhere between storytelling and lecture, Daniel keeps his performance feeling alive by incorporating the audience, wryly noting our reactions to the things he says and does. We find out a lot about how the cells, viruses and bodily processes operate and we are engaged throughout by the power of the artists storytelling style.

In the end though I found myself wondering why I should care about these characters in this imaginary scenario – what was the reason we have been gathered into this space? Are we there to examine our own empathy, the way we grieve, fear the unknown or react to the fast-paced world we live in? There is no doubt that this event holds our attention and keeps us engaged with the power of the solo performer’s words and willingness to put himself through physical pain and emotional anguish as his story unfolds. What, however, is the intention of this piece and what are we to make of it? Ultimately we walk out quite dry eyed, with more knowledge about how disease is spread and for a time transported into the world of epidemiology. Perhaps I won’t be so quick to panic next time there’s an outbreak.

Going Viral is an ARC Production written and performed by Daniel Bye as part of Northern Stage @ Summerhall

Catherine Wheels: The Voice Thief

Catherine Wheels are innovators in work for younger audiences. Previous Total Theatre award winners, with early-years production White, their current show (which has already scooped a Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland) is an exciting promenade piece for older children. We are met on the steps to the basement by Dr Broderick Mackenzie, welcoming our group to the tour of The Mackenzie Institute for the Encouragement of Vocal Harmony. His golden, dulcet tones deliver us into the bowels of Summerhall where a series of different rooms and environments await. This atmospheric and at times quite thrilling promenade performance starts off light, chirpy and pastel-coloured as we are disinfected, guided, and given talks and demonstrations in a series of rooms whose design (Karen Tennant) feels like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory come to life.

Dr Mackenzie’s daughter Beatrice adds a note of disquiet from the beginning. She seems somehow ill at ease as the tour is conducted and it becomes clear that all is not as it seems in the treatments that are conducted for improving the voices of those who have been admitted to the Institute.

Robert Alan Evan’s story slides from a witty and delightful tour into a moody and atmospheric exploration of what happens when voices are silenced. The children in the audience will find the transition quite challenging and it becomes clear why Catherine Wheels recommends this performance for those aged 9 and over, as we are led into secret and hidden areas where voices have been removed and taken away. Suddenly it’s less Willy Wonka and much more a dark version of The BFG as the collection of voices – all from women and girls – are trapped and imprisoned.

The production team and cast skilfully handle the entire experience. Catherine Wheels strikes just the right balance of reassurance and unease, creating rooms and areas with design, sound and lighting that keep the audience guessing – it’s never clear what is going to happen next and the children are torn between the temptation to hide behind the adults with them or lead the charge to discover the next secret.

Full of atmosphere and mystery, the cast of three all perform brilliantly, the direction and design confident and assured, the sound (Danny Krass) and lighting (Kate Bonney) of the highest quality. The Voice Thief is another theatrical triumph from the ever-excellent Catherine Wheels.