Buchinger's Boot Marionettes International
The Armature of the Absolute
by Patrick Sims
UK Premiere
Barbican, The Pit
Tue 13 to Sat 17 Jan 7.45pm
After Show Discussion Wed 14 Jan
Runs approx 70 mins/no interval
All seats £12
Online booking >
'Terrifying, surreal and droll, this is simply great art. Modern and rock'n'roll. A sacrosanct hommage to Jarry'. Corse Matin (Corsica)
‘Brilliant, lingering images…the show had the exquisite specific cruelty and beauty of what some extremely imaginative Edwardian children might dream up in a puppet theatre they got for Christmas’. Daily Telegraph (on The Vestibular Folds)
Think David Lynch’s Eraserhead, Goya’s hellish portraits or the world of the Brothers Quay. The Armature of the Absolute celebrates the ground-breaking ideas of French writer Alfred Jarry – creator of one of literature’s most outrageous characters, the murderous King Ubu. More than 100 years since his death in 1907, Jarry’s work still inspires and shocks.
Buchinger’s Boot Marionettes’ world is a chamber of wonders, a miniature fantasy land, distorting, disturbing, surreal and enthralling. They work with objects and figures made of recycled material, bone and wood, plants, insects and animals, all that enlightens, pleases and horrifies the eye. Anarchic and extraordinary, in the best traditions of puppet theatre.
Buchinger’s Boot Marionettes is an international ensemble currently based in Marseille. It previously appeared at the Mime Festival in 2007 with Vestibular Folds. To make its next production The Old Man of the Mountain, the group has been awarded a residency at La Chartreuse in Villeneuve les Avignon, the French Ministry of Culture’s prestigious centre for new theatre writing.
Production: Buchinger’s Boot Marionettes, with support from Ville de Marseille
Presented in association with Barbican bite09
photos: Mafalda da Camara
