20060416

10 Days on Earth - the art puppetry of Ronnie Burkett


I have been quite contented these days having seen two great shows out of the many great events we have in the city. One is the Taiwanese movie Three Times by the eminent film director Hou Hsiao-Hsien, and the other - an excellent one-man-show, a puppet theatre by Ronnie Burkett. I am not a fan of theatre but puppet show has always been my favorite category of performance art. I've kind of neglected it for many years and eventually lost touch with it after coming to Toronto. I heard about a puppet show two years ago and tried to get tickets but it was already sold out. Just recently I came across an article about the puppet master Ronnie Burkett and recalled the sold-out show. The show must have been Provenance. Now that I know Ronnie is performing again at CanStage with a new play called 10 Days on Earth I don't want to miss it again. And here I am, with a seat on the balcony of the theatre, anticipating a puppet show very different from Asia - a form of serious performance art combining script-writing, acting, puppetry skill and story telling. The show lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes. It was intense, intellectual and executed with great professionalism. I chose to go on a Thursday night because I learned that there is a 'talk back' after the show and the audience will have a chance to meet the artist.

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