| ENO and LITHUANIAN NATIONAL OPERA and METROPOLITAN OPERA and BLIND SUMMIT THEATRE | ||||||||
MADAMA
BUTTERFLY |
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| FULL REVIEWS - PICTURES - HOME | ||||||||
| BLIND SUMMIT MAKES "TROUBLE" IN ANTHONY MINGHELLA'S OLIVIER AWARD WINNING MADAMA BUTTERFLY | ||||||||
NEXT PLAYING: METROPOLITAN OPERA OCTOBER 2007 ENO
London |
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The new Madama Butterfly made by the English National Opera, Lithuanian National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, Madam Butterfly's child, known sometimes as "Sorrow" and sometimes as "Trouble" is played by a puppet. Blind Summit created the puppets and made the puppetry happen. "The production really felt like a pivotal moment
for UK Puppetry" Love him or hate him, this little guy certainly caused a fuss: “In the aisles and lobbies during the second intermission of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” which opened the season on Monday night before a star-studded audience, patrons could be overheard heatedly debating the puppet used to portray Butterfly’s little boy. This nonspeaking minor character is typically played by a cute child in a sailor suit. In this production the director Anthony Minghella has introduced a small puppet boy manipulated by three puppeteers cloaked in black who stand behind him. The child moves with eerily human gestures, and his baldish head has a wizened, hopeful yet anxious look. Some people thought it was “more real than any
real child they could have had,” as one patron put it. Others thought
it was intriguing but very strange. Somewhere in the house, Peter Gelb, the
new general manager of the Met, must have been beaming. |
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| WHAT ELSE THE CRITICS SAID ABOUT THE PUPPET: | ||||||||
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“The pathos of the blindfolded puppet-boy prior to his mother’s
suicide, taking faltering steps, is overwhelming.” “The physical detail, the restless, excitable, mother-clinging
actions and reactions are such that a child actor could never give us and
after a while you stop noticing the puppeteers and, like Butterfly, you see
only genuine emotion and need in the impassive doll-face. This is extraordinary.” “the stroke of genius in using a puppet for Butterfly's child
(expertly and vividly worked by a team of no fewer than three puppeteers),
add and add again to the sheer brilliance of the conception.” “I ended up thinking let’s close all the stage schools
and let all children under 12 be played by puppets…” “the 3 year old child… played by a puppet, is so beautifully
done and is so moving and works exquisitely…” “The animation is so well achieved by veiled but perfectly
visible puppeteers that the puppets are easily the most authentic characters
on stage.” “When, during the "dream ballet" interpolated into
the opening of Act 3, the puppet representing Butterfly clutches with desperation
at the departing Pinkerton, we heard an audible gasp go up around us.”
“this production will be remembered for its puppets.” "The most extraordinary part of Minghella's daring concept is
to use Bunraku-style puppet as Butterfly's lovechild, Sorrow... As wooden
performances go, this one is masterly" “The puppet is cute as a button, and it’s ingeniously
manipulated by three onstage hooded figures” “Three black-hooded men operated the life-size puppet and infused
it with so much realism I forgot at times it wasn't alive.” "The puppetry was on a level of genius" "This is the moment that British puppetry has been waiting for,"
Director - Anthony Minghella
FULL REVIEWS |
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Blind
Summit Theatre, 62 Fentiman Road, London, SW8 1LF |
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020 7582 6814 - info@blindsummit.com |
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