A show about the boy who invented the alphabet for the blind. It is called according to performance language :
נקודת אור ( Hebrew)
LICHTSTRAHL ( German)
LOUIS L'ENFANT DE LA NUIT ( French)
LUIS EL NIÑO DE LA NOCHE ( Castellano)
New title in English will be chosen for: A TOUCH OF LIGHT
“What can one do and say when one is asked to write a few lines about a show that leaves one speechless. What can one say about fifty minutes of pleasure that leave the children filled with wonder and the adults amazed? The words preclude the magic of the show which made out of very simple means, allows the spectators’ imagination to explode and to talk about the ineffable.”
A.L. Fonbaustier, Dernieres Nouvelles d’Alsace. 2002
Louis became totally blind at the age of 5, but his curiosity and strong will led him to find a solution to his thirst for knowledge. At that time, the late 19th century, blind people were ostracized, not accepted at schools, considered intellectually inferior. We follow the story of Louis, from the accident that took his sight, to his invention of the alphabet for the blind in use until today all over the world.
The show is minimalistic in its design, built with materials that come from the world of writing: paper, ink, chalk, pencils. The techniques are mixed: rod puppets, shadows, objects and masks. It is not a matter of creating a uniform visual universe, but of choosing the visual language that supports the dramaturgy for each scene. Both the playing area for the puppeteer and actress and the “ behind the scenes” are visible. The performance flows between these two areas, the theatrical (creative) and the technical (the tools) becoming a metaphor for the act of writing.
Concept, Direction, Text: Patricia O'Donovan.
Design, Puppets and papercut figures: Patricia O'Donovan.
Music: Rachel Yatzkan.
Performers: Patricia O'Donovan 1994- 2018 in Israel, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Brazil and Portugal.
Maya Behar, Deborah Benassouli and Lital Tiyano in France during 2006-2015.
Roni Golan 2018-present in Israel.
Stage Construction: Mario Keizman.
Production: The Train Theater of Jerusalem with the support of the Jerusalem Foundation, 1994.
Contact for shows in Israel: The Train Theater. HERE
Contact for shows in other countries: AMBULO company. HERE
Festivals: HERE
Press Reviews HERE
Audience: Maximum 120 people. It was created with children in mind but adults love the show : minimum of 6 years of age. Visually impaired are invited after the show to feel the puppets and the stage. For the hearing impaired it is possible to arrange for simultaneous translation into sign language.
Success in Europe:
In 1997 Augenblick-mal Festival in Berlin presented the best of that year's theater in Germany plus that of a foreign country. Israel was hosted and I was selected to perform "Ein Lichtschimmer", which I did in the German language, in the category of Israeli Children's Puppet Theater. "Ein Lichtschimmer" was the German title for "Nekudat Or" (in Hebrew : נקודת אור)."Louis l'Enfant de la Nuit" played all over France.
I travelled to Berlin with important figures of Israeli theater like Orna Porat, Gila Almagor and Razi Amitai and Hagit Rechavi-Nicolayevsky were invited to the festival. (Gila loved my acting and told me I should work in Habima. Was she serious?). The success of "Ein Lichtschimmer" was overwhelming, Wolfgang Shneider loved it and I was immediately invited to perform over the next years, touring Germany.
Then I started touring in France:
From 1998 until May 2017 it has played more than 1900 from the major cities to the smallest and remote villages of France. It was selected by the League of Teachers as a recommended show (Spectacles en recommandé /La Ligue de l'enseignement) for schoolchildren. As well it was part of the regular repertoire of theaters in France where adults enjoyed it as well.
It has represented Israel in international cultural events such as
The 60th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel in Vienna 2008, The Week of Jewish Culture in Chemnitz, Germany 1997 and “Culturescapes” in Switzerland 2012.
To see the poster I made for the show click HERE