WHAT'S Kevin Spacey doing in a puppet show? The question arises within the first few minutes of Low Life, a production of Blind Summit Theatre, brought to Sri Lankapresented by the British Council in partnership with Emirates.

"If puppetry is ever going to be the next rock 'n roll, these animators may well be its front men" - Time Out
It's actually not the A-list star who appears in Blind Summit's production, but a less than life-sized likeness identified only as Kevin.

Another puppet resembles Marlene Dietrich. Her name, however, is Mildred. Low Life has a radical twist that has nothing to do with celebrity: the puppets in its loosely linked sketches interact with their four, fully visible human manipulators. Blind Summit subverts the medium of puppetry to make cutting-edge, puppet-led theatre.

Very loosely based on Charles Bukowski's alcohol-fuelled short stories, Low Life is a series of evocative vignettes involving a selection of puppets ranging from the almost life-sized to the table-top tiny.
A man dances a love duet with a beer glass, the cleaner gets lost in a romantic novel, a diva drinks to forget. Bud, the action-hero-plumber, drowns under a bar and Jack Belane, tiny private detective, totally screws up a case. With impressive skill, the four- member Blind Summit gang quickly takes you to the heart of each story, flipping the mood from gentle nostalgia to frantic farce with manipulative grace.
Low Life is a blend of story, music and puppetry: a beautiful, funny, poetic, moving gin-soaked cabaret of deadbeats and losers in a world where puppetry meets Tom Waits. Your world will never be the same again.

When : Thursday 26 and Friday 27 March (Colombo)Sunday 29 March (Kandy)

Where : British School auditorium (Colombo) Engineering Faculty auditorium - University of Peradeniya (Kandy)

Time : 7.30pm (Colombo) 6.00pm (Kandy)
Tickets for the Colombo shows are priced at Rs. 800, 600, 400 and 250(balcony) and tickets for the Kandy show are priced at Rs. 350 and 150(students). Tickets are available at the British Council offices in Colombo and Kandy.

Bunraku Puppetry workshop - Blind Summit will take a 3-hour workshop covering the basic concepts of breath, focus and fixed point. Participants will learn to channel their acting skills into an object or puppet to bring it alive and to work closely with 2 other puppeteers using Blind Summit's unique improvisational performance technique.
The workshop is for those above 16 and is ideal for actors wanting to extend their skills. All levels of experience and ability welcome. Pre-registration essential.
Call/email Lakmaal 4521542 lakmaal.rodrigo@britishcouncil.org

Emirates, the award-winning Dubai-based international airline is the official airline for this tour, a key event in British Council Sri Lanka's 60th anniversary celebrations. Emirates operates 98 flights a week into the United Kingdom, serving London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Newcastle. From Colombo, the airline operates 14 services a week to Dubai. Electronic Media Sponsor ART Television.

For more information visit www.britishcouncil.org/srilanka