Puppets fuel feminine fantasy

A French concoction of puppetry, illusion, mime and dance will be flying into town to tell the story of Lands End, a theatrical fantasy that explores the world of the minds of women.

Director Philippe Genty said his work, developed over the past 20 years, explored the various aspects of human beings facing their inner conflicts in opposition with human beings in conflict with others.

Lands End would open even a small gate over this aspect, we would discover that a great number of our conflicts with others are often projections of our own suppressed fears and guilt, he told Sydney Star Observer.

Even if it just initiates an interrogation among some of the spectators then not only it would have helped me to break my own confinement but maybe also theirs.

This psychoanalytical production also takes on a more traditional approach to theatre by using puppets as an extension of the characters, manipulating them as metaphors for their inner battles.

We know that they are manipulated, we even see the manipulators but we enjoy the fact that these puppets might have a soul, Genty said.

Another interesting aspect is this relation between those lifeless yet immortal elements and the life of the performers. Strangely enough it creates a synergy between them, emphasising the life of both of them.

The set is in a ceaseless transformation achieved by moving black panels that are continuously changing the size of the stage, and panels combined in specific scenes with huge blown shapes.

Genty said his major struggle was avoiding the big supermarket of cliches and especially his own.

To achieve that I work on images rather than words though I have to use words to describe images -” they allow me to think differently, he said.

I establish the script and design a storyboard. For each scene I create photomontages, assembling shots -¦ for me the stage is an area different from reality, it is the space of the subconscious where momentum, inner conflicts are evolving like in dreams, and where images are condensing several meanings at the same time.

One of the most positive aspects is with time I have learned that theatre is an act of giving. It applies with our interpreter but also with the audience, the more you are giving the more you are receiving.

info: Lands End plays at Sydney Theatre from 27 August – 6 September. Tickets can be booked on 9250 1999 or www.sydneytheatre.org.au.