Carlos and his Five Reasons, puppet show Oct 28-30
Oct 28 to 30 at 7:00 pm: Carlos and his Five Reasons, a delightful puppet show about witches for young audiences, at Artword @ The Pearl, 16 Steven St for 3 evenings, $5 Call 905-524-0606)
Carlos and his Five Reasons is a puppet play based on a traditional Spanish story, translated by Barbara Raimondi and Kerry Corrigan. The show runs about 40 minutes and is suitable for audiences age 4 to 10 years (and adults enjoy it as well). The show is performed by Studio Babette puppeteers Marie Franek and Helena Adamczyk. The puppets are designed and built by Marie Franek.
The Story:
Five reasons to be angry are a lot of reasons… and Carlos has them. When Carlos’s toy car gets broken by his sister, and he is ordered to go to bed early without an ice cream or a story, he is upset. He is so upset that he makes a horrible plan: a revenge to punish his family! But only if he knew how? Carlos decides to undertake a journey looking for witches, trying to find the worst witch to punish his parents.
The story of Carlos explores the emotion of anger and what is behind it. The story raises these questions: What should I do about my anger? Should I revenge or forgive when I feel angry? Is my anger justified? As Carlos searches for the witches, he answers these questions as he gradually finds his delightful solution.
The Puppets and the Set:
The puppets are designed and made by Marie Franek, using a special doll-making technique called “needle felting”, an ancient and laborious technique using one tiny needle. Franek has used wool from different sources, including Angora goats from Flamborough farm Valbaine Angoras. Some have wire rods, some have woolen sticks and there is one mask-like puppet. The witches are all different. They are not typical stereotyped witches but more comical, contemporary characters.
The set, designed and built by Gary Santucci, is a multi-layered table top, with many staircases for Carlos to explore in his search for witches.
Studio Babette and Marie Franek
Puppeteer and actor Marie Franek was born in the Czech Republic where almost every town has a small theatre for children using puppets. She obtained a degree in Teaching and masters degree in Theatre here in Canada. She has taught and acted for 26 years, occasionally using puppets in her work. For the last three years, she has been more drawn to using puppets in performance, and has been studying puppetry and puppet construction with various artists.
Carlos and his Five Reasons debuted in May 2008 at The Pearl Company in their Opus Mundi Festival. Marie Franek and The Pearl Company are pleased to bring the show back for a short run in October.
