It's official. Award winning actor Kevin Spacey of Lex Luthor fame is now a puppet.
Well, not really. But the resemblance is uncanny.
Kevin the Puppet is a balding, middle aged man… or should I say, 'a male puppet', with a glass of intoxicant in one hand, and with the much taller, and very human, that is to say, flesh and blood, "Kevin's Wife" (yes, that's her name) in the other. What/whom does he love more? You guessed it - the glass.
The setting: a modern day English bar.
The puppets and puppeteers/actors: Bud the action hero Plumber from London (Martin Barron), old lady cleaner (Eugenijus Sergejevas), former-diva-turned-miserable-hasbeen Mildred (Anna Martine), and of course, the somewhat alcoholic, and rather naughty Kevin (Stuart Angell)
The "real life" characters (for the lack of a better term) - The Bartender, who has a fling of sorts with Mildred (played by Martin Barron), and "Kevin's Wife" (played by the beautiful Anna Martine) and also speaking roles by the other puppeteers/actors.
Low Life -
A puppet show unlike any you have ever seen before. Two hours of great, solid fun; a play, nay, a cabaret of puppets and people, organised by the British Council to mark their 60th year here in Sri Lanka. Two shows were held at the British School auditorium in Colombo on Thursday and Friday, and the third and final performance will be at the Peradeniya University in Kandy today.
It's no social commentary. These people (and puppets) are not trying to send any message across. They're just here to make sure the audience has a gay old time, say Anne, Martin, Eugenijus and Stuart, the people with the puppets (and not "behind" the puppets as is usually the case).
Speaking to The Sunday Times on Wednesday evening in the midst of rehearsals, with little more than 24 hours to go on stage at the British School Auditorium in Colombo, the foursome explained the workings behind the puppetry, which looked anything but easy to this writer.
"There are two or three persons on a single puppet at any given time. We all have to be in tune with each other. It's a lot of team work," says Martin as he, Stewart and Eugenijus give me a breathtakingly realistic demonstration of how the Cleaner (the old lady) is fascinated by a book she's reading.
"It's like three people playing one guitar," says Eugenijus. "But runs surprisingly smoothly," chimes in Anna.
Low Life, more of a cabaret than a play according to the four artists, is a production of the London based Blind Summits Theatre and is the brainchild of Mark Down and Nick Barnes, director and puppet designer respectively.
The show, which was created in 2005, has toured several countries and has received raving reviews from critics and was also short-listed for a Total Theatre Award.
This is the first overseas tour of the current cast and they have added their own material to the story. "It was created by the original cast about four years ago. A lot of it was done through improvisation," says Martin.
"We've added a few scenes of our own, but the basic story remains the same," says Anna.
According to Stewart what he calls the "mood inspirations" for the show were from poems written by Charles Bukowski.
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