Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes
Penny Plain
Poignant marionette pandemic drama proves nearly perfect
Five stars out of five, Calgary Herald
The show that opened on Friday at Alberta Theatre Projects may come with strings attached, but you almost wouldn't know it from how quickly we get into the story.
And that's because the storytelling is so inspired that you often forget that Ronnie Burkett, one of the most gifted marionette theatre artists on the planet - no, make that one of the most gifted theatre artists, period - is the one pulling those strings.
Full of wit, humour and humanity, the play in question, Penny Plain, is virtually flawless.
The scenario is simple: thanks to a pandemic, the end of the world, or at least life as we know it, is at hand.
In the funny satirical prologue, before Burkett has even taken to the catwalk surrounding the raised centre stage, a string of CBC-ish voice-overs broadcast the spread of the disease and the instances of corporate greed, political insufficiency and other assorted crass and aberrant behaviour that its progress reveals.
Then we meet the blind lady of years, Penny Plain, musing with her guide dog Geoffrey over the current events unfolding outside the boarding house where she and most of the other characters live. Turns out that at a time when the motto is "Stay Home, Stay Alive," good ol' Geoffrey has decided to leave home and biscuits and seek his fortunes elsewhere - to become "a gentleman," he tells Penny.
After he's gone comes an unusual cavalcade of hopefuls for the job - a womanizing chihuahua named Pepe, a school-ofhard-knocks fluff of a poodle, and a sad, wide-eyed little girl from upstairs who desperately wants to be Penny's companion puppy.
Add roomers and refugees from the approaching apocalypse such as a banker who's a secret cross-dresser at heart; a woman named Evelyn desperate for a baby made, for obvious reasons, by Pinocchio creator Geppetto; a mysterious boy-with-respirator who suddenly appears, standing in silence, from time to time as a kind of memento mori (but eventually, as something more definite and sinister); and a camouflaged Vegas couple - jumpsuited Mel and his big-bosomed Barbie, who are uncertain about prospects for sharing a little evangelical love and fervour with Canadians in the face of impending death for all by contagion.
Oh, and did we mention Jubilee, fed up and bitterly vindictive, who sees herself as a latter-day crusading Joan of Arc; and her nursinghome mother, Queenie, who gives Burkett's propensity for scatological funniness lots of convincing airplay.
Burkett uses his characters to spin a richly imaginative and profound fable - a cautionary one, in the case of at least one main character - that miraculously strikes us as either comic, very dark, or poignant at nearly every turn (and sometimes all three at once).
Everyone in the show wants to be someone else - to change - or to effect change, which lies close to the very heart of being vibrantly (fatally, in the case of another major Penny Plain character) alive, and never more so (Burkett seems to be saying) than when the threat of utter extinction awaits in the wings.
Unlike Burkett productions of recent years, Penny Plain is remarkably trim and concise - an unprecedented running time of only 90 minutes-plus, with no angry personal agenda that doesn't fit with the characters and the narrative they so admirably fill.
In other words, none of the rants that marred shows like Provenance or Happy.
Penny Plain is all about story - and what a beautifully realized and amazing story it is.
Thanks to new Burkett technology, we are told, the marionettes can look more real than ever.
But as far as Penny Plain goes, that's also because they are.
- Bob Clark, Calgary Herald
"Like the best of any kind of theatre performance, whether cast with humans or Burkett’s impossibly human-like creations, Penny Plain will be in your ears and in your eyes for a long, long time."
- Shelley Arnusch, Avenue Magazine
"There is a reason Ronnie Burkett is recognized as one of Canada’s foremost theater artists. His work is some of the most innovative and visually stimulating things you’ll ever see in the theatre."
- Jessica Goldman, Applause Meter
"This is theatre. At it's best."
- Jenna Shummoogum, Downtown Calgary
He's got the world on a string
- Ronnie Burkett interviewed by Stephen Hunt, Calgary Herald
"As the house lights rise, you're left feeling unsettled and deeply affected by what happens on stage. It's a feeling too rare in any medium of performance today."
- Paul Binov, Vueweekly
“Burkett is back to what he does best...Suffice it to say you forget, within minutes, that these are puppets, that the entire world on the mini-stage is coming from the mind of the man on the “catwalk” above.”
- Graham Hikes, Edmonton Sun
"More than just a play in so many ways.”
- Finster Finds
Burkett’s new show startles with little people, big ideas
- Liz Nicholls, The Edmonton Journal
"Ronnie Burkett is one of the geniuses of the world...seeing his troupe every few years has just become a necessity of civilized theatregoing."
—The Village Voice (New York, NY, USA)
“Ronnie Burkett’s amazing artistry and originality make him an international sensation. He always inspires me. Come celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes!”
— Vanessa Porteous, Artistic Director