Entertainment: Puppetry & poetry at the Festival and Fringe

I’d like to highlight a few more quiet gems in the Festival and Fringe this week, starting with a UK premiere in Chiflón: Silence of the Coal. Creators Silencio Blanco wanted to portray an “anonymous and lonely” job, and chose to adapt a story by author Baldomero Lillo (considered the Chilean Emile Zola) about miners. After travelling to the town of Lota in Chile to meet unemployed ex-miners, Silencio Blanco decided to realise the miners’ history in a unique way.

Marionettes constructed using newspaper and chopsticks form the visual language of the play, and puppetry intriguingly seems to be undergoing a surge in popularity recently. Anomalisa was a moving, strange film, while Outpost (at the Old Market last September) was a beguiling delight.

The Fringe is presenting a different puppetry-based treat in The Girl Who Fell in Love with the Moon, which also utilises live music and poetry to explore our relationship with the skies. It’s received rave reviews, having been described as a “must-see”, “inventive” and “magical” by various sources so it seems like a good bet to take an £8 punt on.

Puppetry is an exciting medium to convey artistry, lighting, story and more, so these two shows represent a great chance to sample some carefully crafted pieces of theatre.

Chiflón: The Silence of the Coal, Thu 12-Sat 14 May,
Studio Theatre, Brighton Dome, brightonfestival.org/news
The Girl Who Fell in Love with the Moon, Thu 12-Sat 14 May, Komedia Studio, www.brightonfringe.org