A Puppeteer in Poland - SMPC's Trev Hill continues his travels in Eastern Europe

After the adventures of Easter (see last issue), things at Teatr Wegajty settled down to a more mundane existence which saw us begin rehearsals for a tri-lingual piece based on the Finnish epic The Kalevala.The three languages in question were Polish. Ukrainian and English (no prizes for guessing who was doing the English text!) Over the next five months we workshopped and experimented with a variety of different theatrical practices until we came to a basic form using masks, music and shadows amongst other things.

The work was first staged as a work-in-progress followed next day by a Commedia dell'Arte workshop, courtesy of SMPC's Judith Milligan who was tempted over to Poland once again. The show was performed again in October and is due to tour round festivals in the near future.

The initial performances were generally well-received, however the big hit of the first weekend was Jude's workshop. The workshop was followed by her dragging me off to play hooky in Krakow, where I reactivated my recurring liver problem with copious amounts of Polish beer!

But I jump ahead of myself here! During the summer I had been asked to do several puppet construction workshops, some of which may develop into larger programmes. These ranged from holiday groups to a village school. All were well attended and saw the children and adults having a great experience and me having to do very little as they were more than keen.

However, my performance of a traditional Punch & Judy show at the midsummer festivities met with a more mixed reaction! The evening itself saw a group from Teatr Wegajty performing music and dances around a bonfire next to the village fire station. There was also an amazing lady called Pam Nina Nikolajuk, who is a traditional singer of old Polish songs. And then there was me! While many people came to me and told me they enjoyed the show (including two girls who had studied at the Bialystok puppetry school) there were some concerns from parents about the level of violence in the performance. Things weren't helped by having to perform through a translator but my lack of rehearsal didn't exactly help either. A lesson there for all budding puppeteers! My landlady told me off for the frequent use of the 'baseball bat'. I retorted that it was a slapstick, using the official Punch & Judy fellowship reply. 'What is a slapstick?' she responded. Hmm ... seems some arguments only work in particular cultures. I decided to reacquaint myself with performing puppets again.

During July and August I returned to my busking roots. During a trip through the Baltic States I found myself in Vilnius, Lithuania. The urge took me and I spent two afternoons successfully busking in the high street (in English!) using my Mexican poncho as a makeshift booth. A day later I played to a children's playground in Helsinki.

By the end of the week I was back in Krakow at a folk music festival where I was persuaded to perform a short Punch show on stage with a sheet strung up between two microphone stands. The audience of music fans and anthropologists (there was a convention in town) were, shall we say, well lubricated and were most appreciative.

From there I went back up North and joined up with my girlfriend Aneta. I then found myself accompanying her around a series of playgroups in a small town doing short shows for the children in the most bizarre places, from behind a sheet on a washing line, behind a hedge and even with two helpers simply holding up a sheet. Versatile theatre or what? Perhaps not everybody's idea of a professional show (not that I was getting paid anyway!) but I can assure you that your creative juices begin to flow and you regain the feel for performing.

Following the performances of the Kalevala things got busy with preparations for the performances of The Canterbury Tales which saw both Wegaijty and myself representing our old works to another enthusiastic audience. The weekend before this saw me travelling far into the South near the Ukrainian border to meet a 91 year-old man who is a carver and a former szopka puppeteer. He toldus a lot of interesting things about kolenda and szopka, local traditions from bygone days. This time, to the relief of all at SMPC, I had a video camera handy!

All this and I still have six months to go over here!

What will the Christmas season bring?