Before the gates of La Galerie at Alliance Française de Dhaka opened, Laurie Cannac, became pacing around impatiently and remarked with soundless anticipation, “I’m expecting my scientist.” It did not take long for the 40 odd gathered to realise that the French director became already in persona.
Moments later, performer Diana Meriline burst by plot of the team with an electrical and contagious vitality, thanking them for coming to her ‘Ghost Conference’. As the rising viewers settled into their seats, it will definitely dawned on me that just correct worship Laurie, Diana had been in persona long sooner than the doorways had opened.
Diana flowed with out complications by plot of the gathering, greeting attendees as if they had been worn company, and thanking them with earnest enthusiasm for attending her “Ghost Conference.” It became impossible to expose where the persona ended and Diana started. On stage or off, she in actuality became a scientist.
As segment of the Sixty fifth anniversary of Alliance Francaise de Dhaka, the organisation hosted a physique puppet showcase titled, ‘Invisible Stories’ on 4-5 October. The manufacturing became directed by Laurie Cannac and performed by Diana Meriline and Farhad Ahmed.
Laurie Cannac is a solo puppeteer who has skilled on the Théâtre-Ecole du Passage of Niels Arestrup and Alexandre del Perugia. She also will likely be the founding father of the Graine de Vie theatre company. The artiste has performed in Dhaka sooner than with the fable ‘Gobbled Down’.
The performers Diana Meriline and Farhad Ahmed were segment of ‘Prachyanat Theatre’ since 2018 and 2012 respectively.
‘Invisible Stories’ follows two scientists’ at a ghost convention, who’re on a mission to expose that the motive in the aid of Dhaka’s traffic is the supernatural, which acts as an invisible impediment on roads.
Soon after they open up the demonstration, they’re whisked away to Sundarban, facing one ghost after one other.
The fable itself became impressed by Bangla awe stories, that contains ghosts corresponding to Mecho Bhoot (ghosts with insatiable love for fish), ‘Shakchunni'(vengeful female spirit), and more.
The stage became very cleverly divided into a number of sections, allowing the performers to alter their costumes and bring in props with out breaking the circulation of the fable.
When I first heard that the fable would be directed by Laurie Cannac, I knew the viewers would be in for a skedaddle. In spite of the entirety, the puppeteer labored worship a magician on stage with her efficiency of ‘Gobbled Down’ on the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
Her model became visible with the interactive nature of the efficiency and lifestyles-worship masks. But, the performers had been ready to leave their designate with their outstanding execution of the fable.
The gap from the stage while staring at Cannac scheme left me in scare. On the various hand, sitting in the front row while staring at Diana and Farhad scheme, I won a newfound admire for his or her craft, staring at them shift between props and costumes sooner than my eyes.
In one in all the scenes the pair gets misplaced after their scientific demonstration of ghosts. An explosion of water in the aid of them projects both Diana and Farhad forward. They former a blue cloth as a prop for the water. Even supposing it is miles laborious to connect a mighty cloth to a liquid, the total team in a plot made it work.
Despite the challenges of sturdy props and minute dwelling, when the pair in the waste fell into the water, their physique language alone became enough to obviously raise the motion. Pairing that with the sound effects, it became enough to utterly immerse the team.
The showcase held a devoted stability between stress-free, humour and an impactful message. The fable is tied in ideas of conflict and the destruction of nature.
As Farhad is submerged in the water, the water itself involves lifestyles, angered on the manner participants enjoy handled it, and claiming it would possibly per chance well maybe take revenge.
Even supposing puppeteer Laurie Cannac’s distinctive model became modern in the interactive nature of the showcase and the lifestyles-worship masks, the performers also left their designate with their outstanding execution of the fable
In one other scene, the viewers came collectively as Farhad carried the puppet of a toddler on his shoulders. The newborn started to chant, ” Earth is my dwelling too!”—and the total room joined, echoing the same phrases.
The fully criticism I also can fragment would be in regards to the boundaries of the venue. On the main day of the showcase, the team stretched your complete formula to the cafe put, with a few participants leaving mid-plot as they’ll also not effectively ogle or hear the performers.
Alternatively, by the 2nd day, the organisers made up our minds against letting the team circulation out of the gallery. Even supposing less participants had been allowed interior, it became sure that the total viewers at some level of the gallery had been ready to effectively experience the showcase.
