DUSTPAN ODYSSEY

COMPAGNIE PHILIPPE GENTY (France)

“Master of visual theatre” The Times

“These artists breathe life into dreams. Simply ravishing” Le Telegramme

“Genty’s art can tug at the heart and refresh the spirit. Seeing is indeed believing” The Australian

The great puppet master, Philippe Genty, invites us to join Ulysses and his shipmates for an incredible journey. Our hero is a corkscrew and sails on his indestructible vessel, which is nothing, but a … dustpan! This imagination without boundaries joyfully carries away kids and grown-ups in this object theatre adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey.The show proved a big hit at the 2012 Avignon Festival, joyfully transporting children and grown-ups into a world of adventure from Troy to Ithaca and encounters with the Cyclops, Calpso and the Sirens.

“Is there a common story that echoes the themes that lie inside of us, that raise questions: borders, evasion, exile, metamorphosis…and turns out to be a part of it? Novels, tales and legends, personal stories, holy texts, everything has been explored, only to find at the end of this labyrinthine path…Homer’s Odyssey, an everlastingly contemporary, immemorial and forever new text, a marvel of images and stories more than a reference work. This story invites us to an interpretation, to escape. We have to get away from the way we picture it, which is typically what object theatre makes possible…” Philippe Genty.

Philippe Genty, the French theatre director, artist and puppeteer, founded the Compagnie Philippe Genty with his wife, dancer Mary Underwood in 1967. Its renowned combination of dance, pantomime, drama, song, puppet theatre and illusion has been seen in all their works including Round Like a Cube, Zigmund Follies, Lands’ End, and Forget Me Not. The Company has toured in over fifty countries across the world.

The New Town Theatre is run by Universal Quidem Ltd, a partnership between Universal Arts and Quidem Productions.