Adelaide Fringe

Puppets For Adults? The Surprising Truth…

We just had to ask the question…

And we have it right here… We sat down with Dan Goronszy who is in Adelaide for the Fringe Festival. With three shows in her Grand Caravan, one of those, Destination Home showing until March 5, uses 30 puppets. We wanted to know why she uses something that might usually be associated with a kids’ show to get her message across. Here is what she had to say…

Let’s get one thing straight, the puppets that Dan uses are actually disembodied papier-mâché heads, but to her, they are puppets nonetheless.

And without further delay here are her five reasons for using said puppets in her show:

They Are Like Magic

They suspend belief. An object could be imbued with intelligence and emotion, and hearts can be touched. Made simply from papier-mâché, they become alive very quickly.

They Are Safe

People seem to be relaxed and more open to puppets. It could be the connection back to childhood, but people are often left surprised by how moved they can be by a puppet.

They Can Do What We Can’t

It is pretty impossible (ok, totally impossible) for us to turn into an African woman or an Aboriginal man, but in Destination Home these characters are present. They become what you need them to be.

A Huge Cast

Set in a caravan that has a stage space of about 2 metres by 2 metres, it would be virtually impossible to have 30 real cast members sharing said stage. Unless those cast members are puppets!

They Have Incredible Powers 

Using their magical powers of transformation, they easily move between person, metaphor, object, landscape etc. The possibilities are endless! Having purposefully made the puppets for Destination Home as only heads, it means that they are genderless, ageless and could be anyone, from anywhere.

Venue: The Grand Caravan – Gluttony
Season: 16 February – 5 March
Duration: 50 mins
Tickets: $10 – $23
Bookings: Book through FringeTix online or at a FringeTix box office (booking fees apply)

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