The text is a disjointed succession of small illustrated texts that tackle in a humorous and poetic manner the ways in which the human brain functions (neurons, grey matter, cerebral hemisphere, transmission of information to organs) and rationalises human feelings, especially love. The texts mention metaphysical themes such as the universe, death, being, space or time. The fragments can take various forms : scenes from everyday life, small story, poem, dialogue, reflexive monologue, aphorism, songs,... Some poems are in italics and follow a rhythmic or phonetic thread.

Object theatre

Not specified

France

Lyon

Printed

Metaphysics

Brain

Love

existence

Memory

Language

Lyrical

Philosophical tale

Humorous

Absurd

Patrick Dubost, Ego non sum sed vos amo, Compagnie M.A, 2009.

French

La Mécanique des jours et des peines.

(je n'existe pas mais je vous aime)

Director

Worker

Puppeteer

Philosophical dialogue

Inserting poetry

Song

Slaps

Dialog between a puppet and its puppeteer

Word reiteration

Argument

Ego non sum sed vos amo

I do not exist but I love you

In an atmosphere recreating the Soviet Union in the 1970s, two actors greet the audience in Russian. They are wearing blond wigs and handing out tickets made of tissues. An old record player, a table with an ancient television covered with a crocheted doily and small china dogs, among other objects, form a kitschy setting. The paper figures show a nose coming off the face of author Nikolai Gogol and going into a bottle of port wine on the table, next to a turtle with Marine Le Pen’s face. Then Theresa May flies across space aboard a T-Rex. Vladimir Putin is turned into a zebra in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body, with Sacha Baron Cohen’s legs (Borat). He will then appear in a two-headed heart alongside Donald Trump. Finally, Jacques Prévert’s and Luís de Camões’s lines are recited and accompanied by an unusual and varied soundtrack (Iggy Pop, Serge Gainsbourg, Juliette Gréco, Yves Montand).

Toy theatre

All audiences

Portugal

Lisbon

Storyboard

Politics

Social criticism

Nose

Music

Kitsch

Collage

Culture

Comical

Satirical

Este não é o nariz de Gogol mas podia ser... com um toque de Jacques Prévert (Compagnie A Tarumba, 2016)

Portuguese

Nikolai Gogol

Writer

Barber

Major

Part of human body

Sphinx

Vladimir Putin

Donald Trump

Marine Le Pen

Boris Johnson

Theresa May

Jacques Prévert

Luís Vaz de Camões

Singer (female)

Juliette Gréco

Singer

Yves Montand

Serge Gainsbourg

Iggy Pop

Football player

Cristiano Ronaldo

Barack Obama

Grupo de narizes bailarinos de São Petersburgo

Dancer

Address to the public

Comical foreign accent

Allusion to current political events

Caricature

Este não é o nariz de Gogol mas podia ser... com um toque de Jacques Prévert

This is not Gogol’s nose but it could be… in Jacques Prévert’s style

Two actors, first dressed up as gorillas, relate murders using a ventriloquist dummy and paper toys. The killers – represented by articulated heads – confess the reasons behind their crimes and reveal several details: the arms they used, the time it took for the victims to die, or the amount of blood they shed. They killed out of vengeance, passion, or even because of daily trivial conflicts. The killers’ heads often wear banners asking for forgiveness, and some crimes are told using shadow theatre. After reading each story, the actors stop to sing a nursery rhyme and play a clapping game. The show ends with a murder on stage.

Shadow theatre

Full-view manipulation

Actor and puppet

Ventriloquism

Manipulated object

Tabletop Puppetry

Adults

Porto

Death

Assassination

Humour

Black comedy

Dramatic

Curtas em papel, osso e fel (Compagnie A Tarumba, 2019)

Animal

Apparition of the puppeteer

Change of voice

Accumulation of events

Narrator

Murder on stage

Curtas em papel, osso e fel

Short stories in paper, bone and bile

Alcide Cervi was a farmer. In 1934 he moved with his family to Gattatico, near Reggio Emilia, on a piece of land called Campirossi ("red fields"), which nobody wanted because it was infertile. He lives there with his nine children: seven boys and two girls. With hard work, they manage to make these fields prosper, and the family can afford to buy a tractor. The Cervi family is known for their anti-fascist political positions. After July 1943, when the Americans landed and Mussolini was arrested, all seemed well. But in November of the same year, a hundred fascists besieged the Campirossi house. The seven brothers try to resist, but they are arrested and eventually executed. As a sign of support and respect, Alcide Cervi never ceased to receive gifts from all sides: a Bible from the Fiat factory workers in Turin, a globe from the agricultural cooperative workers in Santa Vittoria, skittles for his grandchildren from some friends of the boules club. Finally, the puppeteer himself, Maurizio Bercini, wants to give Alcide a gift: a puppet with his features, with which he can transform pain 'into serenity and play'.

Ego non sum sed vos amo

(je n'existe pas mais je vous aime)

Este não é o nariz de Gogol mas podia ser... com um toque de Jacques Prévert

Curtas em papel, osso e fel

Cide

I doni di papà Cervi