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I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing the play “Famous Puppet Death Scenes” as a result of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival here in Vancouver, Canada. To add to the experience, the show was at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre running January 25-27, 2007, an unusual space that exudes the charm of the Vancouver East Side.

This performance comes out of a troupe from Calgary, Alberta, Canada called The Old Trouts of the The Old Trout Puppet Workshop. The group consists of five performers / creators who subscribe to a collective approach to creating and running their business. They talk fondly of their origins of:

…ranch in southern Alberta in 1999. Our first year of operation was an experience of intense collaborative isolation – we lived together, cooked together, and worked together. We collected eggs, fed the pigs, and premiered our first show to a bunkhouse full of cowboys and Hutterites.

The play is described by the PuSh festival as:

The Old Trouts promise to cure your fear of death; no more anxiety about difficult choices, no more dreading birthdays, no more desperate pleas for immortality through fame, art, or progeny. Through a collection of famous scenes culled from the absolute best puppet shows in history, including Edward’s Last Meal, from The Ballad of Edward Grue by Norman Strake, DungBeetle’s Lament, from Flap Flap Flap by Lizzie Fook, The Last Dance, from Henrique! by Kevin Farquartson, and the unforgettable Bipsy’s Mistake, from Bipsy and Mumu Go to the Zoo by Fun Freddy, the Old Trouts will deconstruct your traumatized psyche and reconstruct you so that death means nothing to you anymore. In a way, we promise ever-lasting life. Through a puppet show. That’s right.

The basic premise of the plot is a re-enactment of famous (in the creators minds) death scenes of puppet performances. Most scenes are only a few minutes in length with relatively limited dialogue. Some of the scenes are vaguely reminiscent of the Muppets but applied to themes that most would consider adult, almost Monty Python in nature - simply stupid and profound in a single breath.

Case in point, a scene opens with the bottom half of a puppet hanging from the celling of a small room. It’s clear that the character has hung themselves. In a systematic matter, additional characters enter the room, one at a time, to discover the hanging corpse. Each characters kills themselves by gunshot to the head in their remorse. Like I said, not really Muppet content but oddly the crowd laughs and snickered anyway; I was a little shocked. The scene is wrapped up with a floor full of bodies and the final character appearing as just a torso walking on his hands. It’s revealed to the audience that in fact he’s cut off at the waste and is in glee that his bottom half is hanging from the ceiling tricking all the dead around hime. True Muppet style, simple, almost stupid but funny none the less in an evil kind of way.

In my opinion, the highlights of the show were the “crotch puppets” (creators term) and the pop up books. Unfortunately, I don’t have images of either to show but imagine puppets and puppet props that are life size, strapped to the performer or the size of the performer that become the focus in wonderful collection of short stories. Again, the content is challenging with suggesting folly (background sound) of a violent domestic dispute ending in gunshot.

The key for me is the creative way the story is told, simply profound. Once again I was unnerved by the crowds laughter which would make for an interesting study in human nature - when not sure what to do, laugh… could be worst. I’d love to hear more on this subject from The Trouts as I’m sure they’ve seen a wide range of reactions to their work. I admire them for pushing a medium which is steep in history, some very strong in it’s political message and yet now typically known as something for kids.

In reference to my efforts, I consider this a great inspiration for what’s possible when challenging subject matter is presented and is easily accepted by the audience due to the medium. I dare say that a live action scene of people shooting themselves in the head would not have the same reaction. I need to keep this in mind as I develop the scenes for The Porcelain Philosophers. The Trouts have shown me that through puppets, the audience is willing to accept messages that typically would result in a very guarded response.

On a side note, an interesting point was raised at the discussion with the performers after the event. The audience only clapped at the end of scenes where one of the puppeteers was visible. This whole experience has raised a lot of flags for me in human behaviour and how we react to stories being told by moving inanimate objects. Some kind of interesting switch goes off in us when things are “humanized” which I think causes social niceties and barriers… interesting stuff that I hope to take advantage of.

Big “thanks” to Julia for taking me to this show, it was very inspiring.