Fest offers puppet renditions of ‘Moby Dick,’ ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Hamlet’ and more

Traveling with puppets is difficult. Just ask any of the participants of the fifth Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, opening Wednesday and featuring artists from across the globe performing at venues across Chicago.

Or ask New York’s Basil Twist, whose intricate, dazzling “Dogugaeshi” was supposed be a centerpiece of the 2022 festival. Instead, the production’s more than 500 hand-painted sliding screens were stranded in Germany, victim of a snarled supply chain.

“The show travels by ship,” said Twist, explaining the preferred mode of overseas travel for puppetry artists. Flying their heavy, often oversized creations is exorbitantly expensive and, even were cost not a factor, the one-of-a-kind, handmade puppets and sets are too delicate to survive the rough-and-tumble journey of checked baggage.

“It’s been through the Panama Canal three times. But getting to Chicago last year from Germany in time? That was impossible. This year? We’re doing it,” Twist said.

Twist’s production will join the others converging on the fest, which opens with Plexis Polaire’s “Moby Dick,” the French company’s moody spectacle featuring whales large enough to fill your entire field of vision and details so intricate you can pick out the scars and tattoos on Captain Ahab’s doomed crew.

Manual Cinema’s “Frankenstein,” acclaimed when it premiered at Court Theatre in 2018, closes the festival.

In between, there are exhibits, art installations, films, workshops and an array of shows that range from kid-friendly (The Gottabees’ playful “A Squirrel Stole My Underpants”) to wildly surreal (the melting ice marionettes of Theatre de L’Entrouvert’s “Anywhere”) to tales rooted in history (Theodora Skipitares’ “Grand Panorama” explores Frederick Douglass’ fascination with photography) to the fraught state of Brazilian politics (“Macunaima Gourmet” from Brazil’s Pigmalião Escultura que Mexe).

“With Omicron surging and supply chain issues, our compromise last year was not to have any international artists, so that was a very different festival,” Smith said.

This year, the puppets are converging on Chicago from South Africa to Norway. Below, a quintet of shows to check out during this month’s 12 days of puppetry.

‘Dogugaeshi’ — Basil Twist

Courtesy Basil Twist

A commission from the Japanese Society, Dogugaeshi is created with sliding screens that open — think Russian nesting dolls by way of a kaleidoscope — to reveal images within image within image. Strains from both East (the stringed shamisen) and West (Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” in an arrangement by Twist’s father) provide a soundscape.

“For centuries, dogugaeshi artists traveled on boats to different islands, kind of like a circus,” Twist said. “Every time I visit my storage space, I am astounded by how they moved the show. It’s just so massive. It’s also contemplative, almost like a meditation.”

‘Choo. Choo. Whistle. Woof!’ — Naive Theatre Liberec, Czechia

Josef Ptáček Photo

Czechia’s Naive Theatre has been producing for more than 70 years, making it one of the oldest companies at the fest. Its production is a love story centered on dogs riding model trains.

“We came across articles about dogs that can travel by train, by themselves, and always know when to get off and how to get home. This is how the idea was born — that the traveler will be a small dog and the reason for his brave journey will be, as usual, love,” said the theater’s Michaela Homolová.

‘Invitation to a Beheading’ — The Rough House Theater Co., Chicago

Evan Barr

Inspired by Nabokov’s novel about a teacher condemned to death, the production features “a very real chopping block and a very real axe,” said Rough House co-artistic director Mike Oleon. “It’s a combo of macabre and joyous fun that tackles the darkness of mortality with a sense of glee and openness.

“[It’s] especially well-suited for puppetry and physical theater because it is set in a mindscape in which the rules of reality are constantly shifting.”

Manual Cinema’s ‘Frankenstein’ — Manual Cinema, Chicago

Tiffany Bessire

Since its acclaimed debut in 2018 at Chicago’s Court Theatre, “Frankenstein” has toured from South America to the upper reaches of the Arctic Circle.

“It’s changed significantly since 2018,” said Manual Cinema co-artistic director Sarah Fornace. “It’s tighter, with even more of a focus on Mary Shelley and the baby she lost as a framing device.

“We were inspired by the foreword she wrote to the 1832 edition of the novel. She wrote she was inspired by this dream where ‘I lost my baby, and brought him back by rubbing his limbs.’ ”

‘Hamlet’ — Janni Younge Productions, South Africa

Alan Eason Photo

Shakespeare’s blood-soaked tale of royalty, murder and revenge is steeped in “words, words, words,” to borrow a snippet of Shakespeare’s dialogue (uttered when the titular prince becomes fed up with language in lieu of action). But Younge’s innovative staging (presented in collaboration with the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center) is wordless, with life-sized puppets tackling the seminal tragedy.