Richard Davies delights in a magical evening of poetry and puppetry from the Movingstage Marionette Company’s production of the Ancient Mariner
“Seriously, this is it?” was my 14 year-old daughter’s incredulous response when we arrived at the Puppet Barge, moored at the Thames along Petersham Road, a short walk upstream beyond Richmond Bridge. From our first uncertain step onto a slippery metal gangplank, we entered a watery world of imagination and illusion that defied all our expectations.
The Moving Stage Marionette Company opened its river barge theatre back in 1982 and remains a family business that now spans three generations. Based in Little Venice, the company migrates each year for a summer season at Richmond. The voyage involves dismantling and rebuilding the theatre from a flat barge into an Ark that seats 55 people on surprisingly comfortable tiered bench seating.
On entering the boat, you descend into a cosy refreshment space with a warm fug from the steam of a kettle on the stove. Hanging all around on the vessel’s dark timbers are the marionette casts of countless other productions, waiting to be brought back to life. A large sleeping tiger guards the way to the loo, (where you have to study instructions on the back of the door to work out how to flush.)
Seated in total darkness, you hear the first scratchy notes of a violin. A spotlight reveals a puppet violinist, who draws his bow over the strings and tilts his head with great expressive intensity. The effect is mesmeric. When he stops playing, there is a pause until finally, the audience applauds. The violinist bows his head in acknowledgement. From this moment, you are hooked. You stop seeing the strings and enter a magical world of storytelling and fantasy.
Coleridge’s great lyrical ballad is enacted by the puppets over a pre-recorded soundtrack of multiple voices and music. For anyone not familiar with the poem, it is about an old sailor who kills an albatross while on a sea journey and brings a curse of bad luck to his ship.
Despite their inevitably ‘wooden expressions’, the puppets conveyed great emotional force from the slightest movements of head and limbs. Like masked theatre, their ghostly visages are perfect for revealing the story’s mythic qualities.
My daughter had a big grin on her face throughout the entire production, especially when the albatross first appeared, but also when the sun moved across the sky and during the storm. I learned later from a guided tour of the backstage that the theatre has two ‘bridges’ for the puppeteers, enabling wonderful effects of depth and perspective.
The Ancient Mariner runs at the Puppet Barge until October 2nd. There is also another show “Brer Rabbit visits Africa” which is more suitable for younger children. It is an experience not to be missed, like rediscovering a part of yourself you’d not noticed had gone missing. I stepped back onto dry land feeling years younger.
To book tickets visit puppetbarge.com
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