A Puppeteers Party

Russian folk tale Tea at the Palace a Christmas favourite

Like the magic wand that Mickey Mouse borrows in Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice, David and Ann Powell seem to be gifted with the ability to bring inanimate objects to life. Often, the Puppetmongers Powell, as the brother/sister team call themselves, work with human-shaped puppets. But they've made an entire hilarious production out of their Brick Brothers Circus, in which foam bricks perform all kinds of stunts - to the point where you forget they're just bricks and actually worry for the one who performs a full two feet above the ground without a net.
They've just completed a new show titled Foolish Tales for Foolish Times, which will run in local libraries over the spring. Made up of four folk takes about people who behave in silly ways, it brings lots of different objects onstage as characters. In the comical "It Could Be Worse", says Ann Powell, the pair uses "a lot of toys that we got at Value Village." Some of the characters in the other stories are oven mitts, kitchen tools, a Pop Tart and a milk carton that plays a cow called - you guessed it - Beatrice. In other words, the Puppetmongers believe, anything could be a puppet.
In their charming children's show Tea at the Palace, which they first performed in 1990 and are bringing back for this Christmas, many of the puppets are based on Russian dolls, toys and games. For instance, the heroine's fierce and annoying neighbour Grigori is a jumping-jack, which fits his nervous and twitchy personality perfectly. They've also used a matrioshka doll (one of those nesting painted wooden dolls), and, for the farmyard animals, a flock of wooden chickens that seems to peck grain when a little wooden ball on a string tugs their heads up and down.
With exceptional artistry, the Powells craft all the puppets and sets themselves. The work is so detailed and the story is so engaging that some audience members come back year after year. Anne Powell mentions one fan who came every year as a child, and who's now planning to bring his new baby. "At other shows," says David Powell, "we've had children come running up and saying 'My dad saw this show as a kid!' "
Of course, the play undergoes a few changes every time it returns. "The puppets haven't changed, but we're constantly reworking the story," Ann Powell says. "Trying to find the best ways to tell the story, always." This year, for example, when the clever peasant girl is given a number of riddles to answer, she'll have a lot more distractions to worry about as she tries to solve them. ("We just haven't figured out what they are yet," confides David.)

Tea at the Palace runs from December 19 to January 4 at Artword Theatre (75 Portland Street). For tickets, call 416.366.7723. The Puppetmongers give puppet-making workshops after certain performances. Also, as a special treat for their 30th anniversary, the New Year's Day performance is a gala with a party, games, prizes and tea.

Publication Date: 2003-12-21
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3491