After a professional career in the theatre of over 30 years, Carles Cañellas presents, solo and as the tale of a long journey, a summary of part of what he has produced for string-puppet theatre.

With the perspective that gives to us the time and the experience, we have wanted to recover of some of our previous spectacles, those scenes and ideas that better worked with our public. Not for doing a simple repetition, but with the desires to play, to look for new possibilities, to deepen and to continue experimenting, since, when locating them in another context, they open new territories to us to explore.

A trip by our preceding works, in order to recover sensations, ideas, situations and characters and to recompose a new puzzle with all those moments that as much we have liked to share and that as much the public has thanked for us everywhere.

The show is made up of short stories and performing acts and may be defined as Variety.

Altogether it is an hour’s humour, with a great deal of poetry and humanity. To some extent it sums up the experience of the builder and manipulator of the string-puppets, considered by the international critics as one of Europe’s best and most skilful string-puppeteers.

CREDITS

Author and direction: ..... puppet design and construction: ..... props design and construction: ..... puppet wardrobe: ..... actor and animation marionettes: ..... actress and stage manager: .....

Carles Cañellas Carles Cañellas and Col·lectiu d'Animació Rocamora and Col·lectiu d'Animació Rocamora Carles Cañellas Susanna Rodríguez

WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE WRITTEN:

String puppets d’auteur Pier Giorgio Nosari. L'ECO DI BERGAMO. 22/07/1997 The Rocamora Company with Solista, a show by the Catalan puppeteer Carles Canellas, opened the Festival. The structure is simple: using a diffuse formula, especially abroad, the show comprises a series of “numbers”, the leading characters of which interact with the puppeteer. This is complicit acknowledgement of old variety theatre, borrowed from street artists and their art (acrobats, conjurers, dancers and clowns). In this case it is performed with puppets and is done so in open view. There then follows the most difficult part. Despite the simple structure, remarkable technical expertise is required. There is no story to hold onto or a curtain behind which to hide. The manipulator is alone in front of the audience. From this perspective, Solista is a production-demonstration of technique that should be filmed and shown in puppet schools, if there are any. Canellas wins the audience over and shows uncommon skill in making the puppets’ movements almost humanlike. He plays with his own role, alternating moments in which he is involved in the action with his puppets with others in which he simply manipulates, literally “disappearing” from the view of the audience. It also touches virtuosity, when one of the characters hides behind his legs and he carries on moving it without tangling the strings or losing the rhythm. An excerpt of high quality comparable with when Gassman recited Hamlet’s monologue standing on his head at the Teatro Tenda in the 1970s: only that was an exhibition of virtuosity whereas on this occasion it is done to enhance the production. The magic face of Catalan string puppets charms Como Sara Cerrato. LA PROVINCIA DI COMO. 24/06/2000 Wonderful string puppets show and a summer evening in the open air. There were so many ingredients at the fourth event that the puppet theatre festival last night experienced one of its most intense moments. The programme had already hinted that Solista, a production by the Rocamora Company from Barcelona, would be a great event. To watch Carles Canellas performing with his puppets arouses the emotion that is felt in the presence of a true master. The Catalan puppeteer shows virtuoso, almost acrobatic technique, combined with great poetic sensitivity. His characters, from the amiable granddad on skates to the exuberant Flamenco Dancer and the poetic Pierrot, seem to come alive. The audience’s attention and the applause at the end showed they shared this impression.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

TIMING: .....	performance: 1 h. / stage set up (theatre): 2 hours (outside daytime): 1 h. / dismantling: 1 h.
AUDIENCE: .....	all publics from 3 years upward / maximum recommended capacity: 300 people.
SCENIC SPACE: .....	may be staged both in a theatre and outside, with or without interval / a stage is not required when the audience is arranged on tiers or in an amphitheatre / a stage or platform of some 80 cm in height is however required if the audience are in stalls or standing and there are over 150 spectators / (optimum measurements) width: 6 m / depth: 6 m / theatre: proscenium height 3 m / exterior: wind-sheltered area.
SOUND: .....	500 W system with Minidisk and 1 cordless Headworn or Lavalier microphone systems.
LIGHTING: .....	6.000 W general lighting is required inside or at night.
CURRENT: .....	power outlet on the stage / minimal potency 2,5 kWh (220 v) + lighting.

ITINERANT VERSION

SOLOIST have participated in the following Festivals:

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