The performance begins with the sounds of farm animals. We can smell incense. We hear the ancient sound of a stringed instrument. Suddenly a hand reaches from out of a curtain. The erratic sound of a bell is heard. We see a candle’s flame. The atmosphere is at once threatening and dramatic. Flames burn from within a cottage and once the flames settle from this terrifying scene, the bizarre trip continues.

From out of the devastation of war, a child is born and makes a pact with a divine being. The story is based on an old Welsh Folktale. Gavin Skerritt’s handling of the small objects and puppets has an innocence of a child at play but has also a ceremonial depth and seriousness.

A puppet in the background looks like a paternal figure from the past. How he and other things should be interpreted is left for us the audience to decide.

Dressed in black and blindfolded, Gavin Skerritt performs a mysterious ritual spell. This is theatre that uses puppets, rather than traditional puppet theatre, with an ending that breathes of peace and reconciliation.

AKE HOLMQVIST
(Norra Skane) Sweden