Arts Festival Review: Paper Sky - A Love Story

Paper in its various forms is the recurring theme in the love story of two unlikely souls. Photo / John McDermott

After creating a sensation at the previous Auckland Arts Festival, the creators of The Arrival have returned with an exquisitely crafted rhapsody of image and movement-based theatre.

Their strikingly inventive brand of story-telling dissolves the boundaries between puppet and puppeteer. Doll-sized figurines seduce the actors who are manipulating them and draw us into an imaginary world full of danger and enchantment.

The show pays tribute to the endlessly malleable properties of paper and it is clear that devising the work has been based on a rigorous engagement with the show's raw materials.

Paper artist Mark Lander has created huge sheets of flax-based paper which are scrunched into ever-changing forms and swirled like billowing clouds.

The beautifully textured paper appears to be both fragile and robust. It provides a potently suggestive medium for John Verryt's brilliant set design, which intelligently highlights the contrast between the fluidity of crumpled paper and the rigidity of cardboard.

The differing properties of paper and cardboard are used like water and ice to represent the two poles of the narrative, which sets up a conflict between isolation and security on the one hand and chaos and adventure on the other.

The storyline is charming but lacks the playful inventiveness that consistently animates the physical aspects of the show. The dreamy visuals are hung on the framework of a fairly standard love story that has little of the unpredictable scruffiness of real life.

The complexity of emotions are hinted at when the protagonist reluctantly refuses to open the door for a female visitor, but the story becomes less interesting as it spins off into the archetypes of mythical imagery.

Artistic directors Kate Parker and Julie Nolan display a cohesive, holistic approach along with a loving attention to detail. The show is driven by Andrew McMillan's powerful soundtrack and the visual effects are neatly synchronised with Jeremy Fern's evocative lighting.

A highly talented cast draw on a huge range of vocal and movement techniques while coaxing amazingly intricate expressions out of the show's tiny puppets.

Auckland Arts Festival

What: Paper Sky - A Love Story.

Where: Playhouse Theatre Glen Eden until March 6, Mercury Theatre until March 14.