Concrete Playground

Marionettes awaken powerful emotions in people. Many pale-faced adults will mumble about childhood fears, of puppets grinning soulessly at the prospect of dragging screaming kids under the bed. But there's more to life than bed-wetting terror, and Canadian puppetmaster, Ronnie Burkett, uses his craft to bring both heartache and joy into the land of wood and string.

Billy Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden Boy, follows the eponymous hero, a puppeteer, as he plunges through an existential crisis and into the ghostly aid of Sid Diamond, his old teacher. Drawing at times from Burkett's own life, this sweet tale is a marionette epic filled with characters both bizarre and memorable. The quality of Burkett's mastery is such that you'll often forget that it's only his hands and chameleonic voice breathing life into Billy Twinkle's universe.


Photo by Trudie Lee