Two final plays from the Wee Festival that closed this past long weekend:
Tricoter (Knitting)
At the Assembly Hall, 1 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Dr. Etobicoke, Ont.
Artistic Direction: Julie Lebel
Hosting and facilitation: Julie Lebel, Candice Irwin
Dancer: Marie-Pier Gilbert
Musician: Anna Atkinson
This is a charming show for young children of all ages. Children sit in a circle, on ‘the grass’, a green carpet. Adults can sit on stools behind the kids. There are several balls of wool around the space. Candice Irwin sits on a stool knitting a scarf. Julie Label is knitting a cape for her cat. Marie-Pier Gilbert dances exuberantly around the grass bringing out balls of wool from a large knitted bag. She tosses them in the air and rolls them to children who might roll them back. Strands of wool wind around Gilbert’s body, and often winds around a willing child. Anna Atkinson plays the violin providing the only music necessary. At the end of the show the children are invited into the circle to play. Lovely.
Tricoter is an interactive dance piece for all ages that captures the spirit of the knitting circle. The children are engaged, encouraged to participate and play with the wool; they go on a journey following the winding trail of wool along the floor, ending in a high five at the end. It’s wonderful seeing parents leaving their children to discover what they are looking at, rather than showing them what an adult would find interesting for a kid to look at.
Presented by Foolish Operations, from Vancouver, B.C.
Bonne Nuit (Good Night)
Created and performed by Csaba Raduly
Directed by Pavla Mano
Set and Costume by Ivan Stavrev
Puppets created by Csaba Raduly and Pavla Mano
Original music by François Landry and Petya Nedeva
It’s 10 pm and our impish performer is being lead around by his tie to get ready for bed. There is his pillow, his blanket and other stuff he needs for bed. But he’s prevented from resting. His pillow, blanket and even pajamas act up and keep him awake. The activity just to get his pajamas on takes on a life of its own. Even feathers fly out of his pockets etc.
Csaba Raduly, the creative performer here creates puppets with faces and personalities out of the pillow, the blanket and even his sleeping cap. No section is over played or over stayed. The young audience is engaged, lively and surprised. At the end, Raduly has a small wood box full of feathers and he gives one feather to each child as he/she leaves the theatre. A memento of a sweet time in the theatre.
Presented by Puzzle Theatre that was founded in Bulgaria and moved to Montreal in 2004.