Marvelous Marionettes - Ronnie Burkett at Place des Arts Until Saturday

My cousin Ori is originally from Israel, but moved to Vancouver 4 years ago to attend Vancouver Film School. He’s now one of the country’s brightest up and coming talents in visual effects. In fact, I’m going to shamelessly plug his short film, Piece of Mind, which was screened at the Future Is Here Video Party a little while back.

Ok, back to the point over here… Ori was visiting last week and he’s constantly curious and looking for new sources of inspiration, so when he saw that Ronnie Burkett was performing his puppet show entitled 10 Days On Earth at La 5e Salle of Place des Arts, he asked me with the brightest eyes if I would go with him.

We JUST made it… the show starts at 8, and if you’re late, you’re not going in. And if you leave during the show, you’re not going back in. With absolutely no idea what to expect, we plunked down in our seats with just a minute to show time.

I hadn’t seen a puppet show since I was very young, it was a hand puppet show, I remember. But, although this show involved characters from a children’s book and a main character who is a mentally challenged middle-aged man, there was nothing childish or immature about this story. Actually that’s a lie, it made me feel like a little girl. The show asks “if you were alone but didn’t know it, would you feel lonely?” The tale was moving, the puppets were so expressive, and it was entirely a one-man show, with Ronnie Burkett expertly manning the 31 marionettes (I counted them after the show), voicing all of them, and delivering the story seamlessly. There was an especially magical moment where the entire audience let out an “AHHHHH!” of enchantment! But I won’t ruin it for you :-)

This was such a magical journey, unlike anything I’ve experienced. About 20 minutes into the show, Ori and I turned and looked at each other, and our eyes were so wide that no words were needed. I can say that that look was the only time during the 2 hour performance that my attention waivered from the stage. Ronnie himself seemed to disappear sometimes (you can see him over the small marionette stage, hovering in the shadows).

If you go to the 10 Days On Earth page on the Place des Arts site, you can see a voiced slideshow of Ronnie’s studio, where he creates his puppets, and view pictures from the play.

The show is on every night until Saturday November 17th, costs only $25, $15 for students, and it will be worth every penny.