Storytelling with miniature shadow cutouts
It is 1890. Pablo is 13 years old when his heart jumps an extra beat: he finds in a second-hand sheet music store in Barcelona a copy of Bach's six cello suites.
The show:
I tell the life story of Spanish cellist Pablo Casals sitting next to a wooden box on a stand, which contains pictures of the story. In front of me there is another chair for the spectator.
The images are made from miniature paper cutouts I glued onto a very long and narrow acetate film. The cutouts are between 4 mm to 3 cm. By turning a handle the film runs from left to right inside a wooden box that has a tiny window covered in semi transparent paper. A lamp illuminates the cutouts from behind so that as the story progresses the spectator hears me narrate and act out the characters' dialogues and sees a tiny moving shadow film.
The story covers his life from his childhood in El Vendrell ( Catalonia, Spain) until his last concert, here in Jerusalem. At the end the spectator is asked to put on earphones and listen to a recording of Pablo Casals playing his "Song of the Birds" which has become a symbol of peace.
The Peep Box:
Miniature shadow figures:
Credits:
Artwork and Performance: Patricia O'Donovan
Peer Show Box: Mario Keizman
Music: Pablo Casals " Song of the Birds"
Audience: For 1 to 3 spectators.
Languages: Spanish, English or Hebrew
Production: AMBULO Company, 2016.
Festivals:
The International Festival of Puppet Theater. The Train Theater of Jerusalem. 2016.
The International Festival of Puppet Theater. Holon, Israel. 2019.
Among the public shows:
BARBUR Art Gallery in Jerusalem 2017, B & B residency.
CHANUT Theater in Tel Aviv 2018
HA ZIRA Public Libraries In Jerusalem 2019.
Click here for another Storytelling with Pictures show.
In 1973 Pablo Casals gave his last concert at the Khan Theater in Jerusalem.