Becki Crossley checks out Janet at the Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts...
When people asked me this week what I was up to at the weekend, I got to say: “I’m going to see some bread puppetry.”
After returning and being asked, “well, was it as weird as it sounds?” I can honestly say… no, it wasn’t. Because after the initial absurdity of watching kitchen paraphernalia and a 1.5kg lump of uncooked bread dough leap about the table, you forget that the objects you’re watching weren’t actually designed to be puppets.
The creator and solo puppeteer, Helen Ainsworth, is so masterful at breathing life into her characters that it seems totally natural that these objects would take the place of more ‘traditional’ puppets. Her choice of materials to create her art showcases how puppetry is about so much more than pulling a few strings.
a tryst between said bag of flour and a carafe of water
At its heart, Janet is a tragi-comic soap opera complete with “object on object” action, starring the most expressive bag of flour (sorry, premium French flour) I’ve ever seen. Born the result of a tryst between said bag of flour and a carafe of water, Janet’s (literal) rise and inevitable fate unfolds in front of us through moments of hilarity, absurdity and some genuine emotion. I never expected to feel genuinely moved over a distraught blob of raw dough, but here we are.
With supporting characters such as Derek the rolling pin, a sinister spider-like roll (or cob, I should say, we are in Nottingham after all), a homewrecking teapot and an assortment of other baked goods, Janet proves that just about anything can be a puppet if you have the skills.
At the close of the show, the front two rows get to sample a bit of Janet in the form of cucumber sandwiches. It feels a bit wrong, but also, like a very fitting conclusion.
Janet was performed at the Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts, on Friday 12th April as part of the Nottingham Puppet Festival 2024. The festival is taking place at venues across the city until 21st April.
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