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Birdheart — Puppet theater with Julian Crouch

October 6 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Tony awardwinning puppeteer and theater designer Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane perform Birdheart, transforming brown paper into magical creatures. Press photo courtesy of Race Brook Lodge
Julian Crouch

World-renowned puppet theater master Julian Crouch will perform his groundbreaking chamber work, “Birdheart,” from October 6 to 8. Through a series of animated images built in front of the audience’s eyes, “Birdheart” creates something achingly beautiful from the humblest of beginnings: a sheet of brown paper, found objects, shadows, and a box of sand. The show, co-created with Saskia Lane, has been performed for everyone from infants to great-grandparents, and even the Dalai Lama.

World renowned and Tony-nominated puppet-theatre master Julian Crouch comes to the Race Brook Lodge with his groundbreaking theatre piece, Birdheart co-created with Saskia Lane, which answers the question: “how does a piece of trash learn to fly?”

A widely celebrated show that’s toured the world multiple times and has even been performed privately for His Holiness The Dali Lama, Birdheart comes home to roost in Sheffield, Massachusetts in a multi-day run in the Barn on the first weekend of October.

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Tony awardwinning puppeteer and theater designer Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane perform Birdheart, transforming brown paper into magical creatures. Press photo courtesy of Race Brook Lodge
Julian Crouch

Tony awardwinning puppeteer and theater designer Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane perform Birdheart, transforming brown paper into magical creatures. Press photo courtesy of Race Brook Lodge

Built for infants, great grandparents and everyone in between, Birdheart defies expectations.

Through a series of animated images built in front of the audiences’ eyes, Birdheart creates something achingly beautiful from the humblest of beginnings: a sheet of brown paper, found objects, shadows and a box of sand. What results is an intimate and stunning chamber piece of animated theatre about metamorphosis, loneliness, and the urge to fly.

Inspired by an image of litter washed up on the shore and poisoning Albatross nests, Julian Crouch and his co-creator Saskia Lane have created a puppet show that largely eschews traditional narrative and favors instead the magical art of visual transformation. Birdheart holds a mirror up to humanity, reminding us of the profound simplicity of form, story, and emotion that is possible when artists return to the elemental within themselves. The piece is a quietly powerful, utterly compelling articulation in miniature of the mystical idea that the whole of life can be conjured from sand, sticks, paper, and the will to imagine.

Originally commissioned by The New Victory, Watermill Center, St Anne’s Warehouse and the Henson Foundation, Birdheart is an example of puppetry practiced at the highest levels of human artistry and expression and it will transform all who are lucky enough to witness it.

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Event Details

Details

Date:
October 6
Time:
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Series:
Event Categories:
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Event Location

Race Brook Lodge
864 Undermountain Road
Sheffield, MA
413-229-2916

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