Tristan and Isolde

AS part of the International Puppet Festival now taking place in Dun LaoghaireRathdown in various venues, Feike Boschma gave two performances of his version of Tristan and Isolde last weekend in Culturlan. The man known as the godfather of puppet theatre in the Netherlands is this year celebrating his 75th birthday and his 50 year jubilee. His work is his monument and it provided a festival highlight.

A narrow wooden table stretches across the stage three puppeteers appear behind it and don expressionless masks. A brief preamble takes place, of a saucepan heating under dancing flames, its contents then poured into a bottle. The legend of the tragic lovers Tristan and Isolde begins, continues through their imbibing of a love potion and its consequences, their hapless betrayal of King Mark of Cornwall and his regal reaction. There is music and song to embellish and explain the lucid action.

The action is quite marvellous. These puppets are swirling pieces of coloured cloth which take fantastic shapes. Some ore tiny, others are life size or larger. They flow through the air suggesting a variety of actions and, to an extraordinary extent, emotions.

This new reworking of an old story was a delight to the eye and the intellect.