Billy Twinkle, Requiem For A Golden Boy
Ronnie Burkett brings his new puppet play to Vancouver
Ronnie Burkett is known worldwide for his elaborate and complicated puppetry, and is back in Vancouver, offering PuSH Festival patrons a glimpse at his latest gem, Billy Twinkle, Requiem for a Golden Boy at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island. He was last in Vancouver with 10 Days on Earth, but many remember his other work, like Provenance, Happy, Street of Blood, and Tinka's New Dress. Audiences flock to his shows, and for very good reason.
This show is a departure from some of his other work, as Burkett is the title character, Billy Twinkle. He's a middle-aged cruise-ship puppeteer who has been entertaining audiences for years, when he is quickly fired after snapping at an audience member. He proceeds to the front of the boat where he contemplates suicide, when his dead mentor and friend, Sid, arrives as a hand puppet, forcing Billy to re-enact his life as a puppet show to rekindle his passion and love for puppets and for life.
He uses countless marionettes to share his life story to near perfection. Each is so unique and has its own personality that you constantly forget that they are being manipulated by someone above. That is the strength of Burkett's work – he takes you into his own world, and he keeps you there until the end of the show. The nearly two hour, intermissionless performance flies by, and you're left shaken following by what you've seen.
Special attention must be paid to John Alcorn, who composed the music for the show, which Burkett and the various marionettes handle with ease, and the lighting design by Kevin Humphrey, which is never intrusive, and helps us distinguish the difference between "real life" and the various flashbacks that take place throughout the play.
The audience lept to its feet at the end of the production and for very good reason – Burkett delivers again in this marvelous production, and shows us, once again why he is truly a puppet master, and a true Canadian theatre icon. While Billy Twinkle may not be as dark and morbid as his other work, but that is why it's so refreshing to see.
If you were debating whether the high ticket price for Billy Twinkle is worth it, it is. You should snatch up a ticket before it's too late – you won't be disappointed.
Billy Twinkle, A Requiem for a Golden Boy, part of the PuSH International Performing Arts Festival at the Waterfront Theatre, Granville Island, is running until February 8, 2009
****1/2 (out of five)
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