Trust me for a while is a ventriloquist show gone off the rails. Ahorror comedy with dark humor, putting an end to depressingcontemporary meta-theatre and crappy puppeteers.
THE SHOW - LETTER OF INTENT
“Being a puppeteer by profession, I have always had a double-sided fascination for the ventriloquist dummy. On one side I would question if ventriloquism can transcend its technique and qualities of pure entertainment - and become art. And on the other side I have a deep respect for the art of ventriloquism, representing the ultimate, and most intimate, relationship between the actor-puppeteer and the puppet.
There is something quite terrifying, and at the same time irresistible, with the ventriloquist dummy. The very recognizable, but not at all realistic, human representation of this puppet is the incarnation of our biggest, and most basic fear: innocence hiding horror. A dead object coming to life has always an instant impact; it takes us back to our first and final fear of dreams and death and everything that is incomprehensible, but yet exists. I’m particularly intrigued when the use of the ventriloquist dummy embodies madness. It takes us right into the messy, mad and mesmerizing centre of the human mind. Using the puppet as a medium for the unknown and the un-nameable.
Puppetry has the unique capacity of making us feel something that we can only understand on a deeper, and almost unconscious level. Puppetry can give a form to the invisible, a voice to the unspeakable. The internal battle with something that is you, but yet, is not you. A part of you that you can control - until it all of a sudden control you.
I often make performances where scenography, lights and projections are a big part of creating the feeling of being transported into another world. But the chore of my work is always the relation between the actor and the puppet.
And in this project, I want to go back the bone ; strip off the skin and the flesh and the technical magic I normally depend on to create my work. I want to build the story on the raw relation between an actorpuppeteer and a puppet.
A tender but tragic love story featuring a failed magician and a possessed figure with a knife. ”
Yngvild Aspeli
PRESS
« With her bloodthirsty Teddy, her cat that single-handedly resolves Schrödinger’s paradox—being both dead and alive after being unintentionally killed by Pedro—and her Pedro completely lost in it all, the director brilliantly and with subtle humor reformulates the main threads of her artistic research. Using Teddy as a gentle jab at the ‘depressive meta-theatre of these crappy puppeteers’, Yngvild Aspeli succeeds in her first creation without relying on the framework of preexisting literary writing, instead undertaking a personal journey through various motifs borrowed from so-called ‘popular’ culture, which, through the lens of puppetry, are revealed in all their richness. »
« Yngvild Aspeli takes us to a world where ventriloquist puppets sow awe and terror, ring the bells of fear, and scatter doubt in every direction. What if the puppet rebelled against the one who manipulates it? What if, in the end, it was the human who climbed into the box, never to come out again?
All of this—with extreme mischief, tenderness, and finesse—is explored and staged by Yngvild Aspeli and her collaborators through a set made of three moving curtains guarded by a nimble, clever cat, a doublebottomed suitcase twisted in every imaginable way, and an invisible sprinkling of magic fairy dust.
With dread and sharp insight, the artist leads us to mistake illusions for reality. Appearances and disappearances set the rhythm for this show where tenderness and terror go hand in hand. We’re left wanting more. »
« Full of self-mockery, Trust me for a while quickly loses its childlike innocence in favor of a two-layered narrative. For while Yngvild Aspeli does give the audience the keys to understanding the illusion created before their eyes, she delights in executing it anyway. In a nightmarish atmosphere, it becomes hard to determine who—the puppet, the puppeteer, or the audience—is truly the victim of the illusion. »
« Everything is full of mischief, and the probability of behavioral choices is vast: the puppet acts on its own whims, continuously destabilizing its creator—guide, advisor, or animator—who loses control and self-mastery behind a smile that’s nothing but a lie. The puppeteer, carrying the puppet, succumbs to violent impulses.
Winks to the audience, mesmerized by so many tricks, mechanisms, and the terror of such random moods that can slip into horror—because everyone’s intentions are quietly malevolent. It’s up to the audience to judge the danger of the spilled blood or the creeping, tragic threat spiraling out of control.
A puppet show full of enigmas and delicious mystery—mischievous and darkly humorous. »
CREATIVE TEAM
Conception and direction Yngvild Aspeli
With Pedro Hermelin Vélez, Melody Shanty Mahe, newly graduated actors from ENSAM in Charleville-Mézières and Laetitia Labre
Collaboration in dramaturgy Pauline Thimonnier
Assistant to creation Aitor Sanz Juanes, Laëtitia Labre, Andreu Martinez Costa
Puppet production Polina Borisova
Music composition Greg Hall
Lights Vincent Loubière
Production Plexus Polaire Claire Costa
Administration Plexus Polaire Anne-Laure Doucet
Production manager Plexus Polaire Iris Oriol
Touring info : Claire Costa clairecosta@plexuspolaire.com
PARTNERS
Production Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne, Centre dramatique national
Coproduction Plexus Polaire
With the support of Figurteatret i Nordland, de l’Institut International de la Marionnette dans le cadre de son dispositif d’aide à l’insertion professionnelle des diplômé·es de l’ESNAM et de l’Agence du Service Civique et de l’Arts Council Norway, Fond for lyd og bilde
