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Report: France

Foam puppets come to life in Duda Paiva's 'Blind'

Wherever historic puppetry forms are still strong, and often part of annual ceremonies or rituals, they provide a firm base on which contemporary forms and inventions emerge. At the International Puppet Theatre Festival in Charleville-Mézières, a Brazilian artist brings his life to his puppets. ‘Blind’, performed by Edouard de Paiva Souza from the Duda Paiva company, was a world première, and significantly new in many other ways for the artist.

‘Blind’ is a show at the International Puppet Theatre Festival in Charleville-Mézières
‘Blind’ is a show at the International Puppet Theatre Festival in Charleville-Mézières © Petr Kurecka
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Appearing on stage wearing black-edged goggles, and covered in soft bumps under his greyish figure-hugging costume, Duda Paiva looks like a cross between Jeff Goldblum in the film "The Fly" and a Shakespearean Richard III.

His work comes from his reflections on a period of his youth when, due to a curable illness, he lost his sight and was temporarily plunged into darkness.

“I started acting because of my blindness. So there was nothing more interesting for me than to revisit this time in my life," he said. "This show is about reinventing myself as an artist. We took one and half years with Australian theatre director Nancy Black. She’s not specifically a puppet director, and she brought a whole new vision of how to lead us through the creative process.”

The show starts by this misshapen character casually engaging some volunteers sitting on the edge of the stage in French and English. They are called on intermittently to take part by holding one of the thin ropes criss-crossing the stage, and from which are suspended three white crinolines. They are also picked, as are members of the audience, by the oracle, a Yoruba-speaking larger-than-life foam puppet, sculpted by the dancer-puppeteer-actor for a bit of fortune-telling.

Yoruba is one of the several surprises in this one-hour show.

“Yoruba, which comes from some regions of Africa, travelled to Cuba, Brazil,” explains Duda Paiva. “We also have the Umbanda religion which is better preserved in Brazil than in Africa itself. Not to recreate the ritual, I reinvented the oracle; I made my own ritual on stage, but the language, the songs, are indeed Yoruba.”

‘Blind’ for Duda Paiva is also a contemplation of what he calls the “disabilities of people and chaos in the world today, social and cultural.” However, he insists that “it’s not giving any answers; the audience associates what it likes with the images.”

However, the deeply personal introspection which led to this production is emphasised by the puppet-theatre form where Duda Paiva and his puppets share body and soul.

“The special foam is very light and elastic, and extends the body of the actor as well as the body of the puppet itself.”

He adds: “The puppet for me is a bridge between me and the audience. The puppet needs the audience to live.”

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