By Darby Turnbull
Arts Festivals are essential to the fabric of our community; last week when AI generated ‘actress’ Tilly Norwood was inflicted introduced to the world and the general feeling of hopelessness at the spectre of AI colonising the Arts space, it was small consolation that for the next three weeks at least there’d be a public celebration of craft.
It was such a thrill to see Puppet Rats’ inaugural production Die! Die! Die! Old people die play to a full audience and the delight we all had in witnessing the creative ingenuity of the indefatigable ensemble. Set in the Church Hall of Our Lady Help in East Brunswick the use of space is a marvel; the manual operation of the puppets happens at the front of the stage in front of laptops and they’re live streamed onto a screen behind us.
David Woods’ original story is sold; the use of puppets to explore the rapid deterioration of the mind and body and encroaching mortality is powerful; there’s so much potency in representing the loss of control and autonomy that comes with age. Donna Prince’s creations are full of personality and vulnerability; lovingly operated and voiced by Fiona McDonald, Emma Jevons, Tim Sneddon and Jalen Ong they’re a wonder to behold. Each movement is precisely coordinated and timed to give our three characters, Norman, Violent and Arthur, plus an adorable dachshund palpable life. We see them stumble, shag, struggle, enjoy each other’s company and ultimately mourn each other. The highest compliment you can pay a puppeteer (in my opinion) is that you half forget there’s a human operating the creation in front of you because it’s taken on a being of its own.
As a sheer exhibition of craft, it’s superb. Directed by Sarah Kriegler and David Woods, it’s a celebration of good old fashioned practical effects that are underutilised and appreciated in the digital age. When you hear an adult audience sit in rapt exultation at the maneuvering of tiny sets to manipulate time and space it feels almost defiant in its opposition to photorealism and Artificial Intelligence.
The story, however, could do with some work to take it to the next level. There is power in exploring the mundanity in the lives of these senior citizens but often the narrative lags and becomes stagnant and repetitive (there are about two too many corpulent jokes) when there’s so much room for world building and character development. Arthur and Violet are married but live with her ex-boyfriend Arthur, who developed amnesia after a war injury. It’s a throwaway line but it’s a peek into another kind of show; you don’t offer octogenarian polyamory only to snatch it away! Late in the piece when both Violent and Arthur meet their mortal coil and we find Arthur contemplating the rest of his days alone, there’s a mature delicacy that’s been missing from the playfulness that’s preceded it. How much more affecting if we knew more about them? Ultimately this is a depiction of age from a more youthful point of view but there’s potential for something more here and one I’d love to see the company explore with more dimension.
Die! Die! Die! Old people die! Is playing over the next two Fridays of the Fringe Festival and a whacking great time.
