Vertip (work-in-progress)

Cultural mediation activity for all
10 years +

 

Part of the Café-causerie: Budding creations! event, presented in front of an audience and livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube.

In a casual setting, four creative teams present their work-in-progress and answer questions from the public eager to learn more about the various stages involved in the development of a puppet show.

 

Vertip

Inspired by the Ukrainian Vertep, a wooden box-theatre where puppeteers perform the Nativity scene with emblematic ethnic puppet characters. This story is about Vertip, a penniless puppeteer living in a Ukrainian community centre basement where he performs the annual Christmas puppet show until one day Zyhd, the Jewish moneylender puppet, begins to move on his own, shaking his bag of coins. Concerned that Zyhd will ruin the show, Vertip secretly orders the Cossack to assassinate Zhyd, but his plan goes awry. Vertip delights in all the beauty of the traditional rod puppet world, while diverging into absurd and surreal territory. 

Techniques: road and hand puppets

Target audience: all audiences, 10 years +

 

Photos

Photos: Tristan Brand

Company

Scapegoat Carnivale is an award-winning contemporary theatre company reflecting the diverse talents and extraordinary creativity of the Montréal artistic community. Their aesthetic interest is in the carnivalesque and the highly theatrical. Whether producing new works or translations and adaptations, Scapegoat Carnivale strives for theatre to be an unruly, visceral and authentic shared experience.

Credits

Story: Alison Darcy Stage direction: Joseph Shragge Puppets: Zach Fraser Performance: Sasha Samar   Scapegoat Carnivale gratefully acknowledges the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for their support.