Today, the German ensemble Das Papiertheater present their captivating dance theatre show I Spy With My Little Eye at the Black Box Theatre as part of the Baboró children’s festival.
Based in Nuremberg, Das Papiertheater have, since 1995, been exploring the visual, acoustic and dramatic potential of paper.
A huge paper surface stretches across the stage and stands between audience and actors: it serves as a screen that could be painted or projected onto, a wall where holes and windows are cut or torn from, a surface that gives birth to objects by being fold and bent.
The company’s shows are based on visual language and therefore do not need many words. Das Papiertheater thrives on the collaboration of various art forms: musicians, sculptors, puppeteers and storytellers engage in paper affairs. The results travel around the world.
In I Spy With My Little Eye the Papiertheater has teamed up with Tanztheater DE LooPERS Breme to create a strikingly original paper theatre dance.
The show commences when a paper roll rolls on stage – it is a path, no, a rope, it becomes a newspaper, is folded twice, it is a scarf, a mirror, is knotted, now it is a human being, rather two! All these things come into existence in front of the audience, but still you see more than just what you see.
The guiding idea in developing this stage production was Plato’s Cave Allegory. Images and scenes were found that started to have a life of their own. It is a play in images and silhouettes, a play all about the question – what do you see?
“De LooPERS are famous for doing kids’ dance shows,” explains Papiertheater’s Johannes Volkmann. “I Spy is a blend of dance and visual paper theatre. There is no story as such in the show, it’s like a game where we create fantasy and adventure for the audience. It’s simple but it creates a magic feeling and the audience get caught up in the pictures we create.”
This is Das Papiertheater’s first visit to Ireland and their show is sure to be one of the Baboró highlights.
I Spy With My Little Eye is at the Black Box today for two performances, at 10am and 9.30pm. Tickets are available from the Town Hall on 091 - 569777 and www.tht.ie
