The Iceman Melteth: In Théâtre l’Entrouvert’s ANYWHERE, Oedipus is a marionette made of ice
Photo by Richard Termine.
Time and water are slippery things—you can’t hold on to either for long, and when you run out you die. Artists often draw on water as a wellspring for metaphor (Paul Simon said “time is an ocean,” to which Bob Dylan agreed “and it ends at the shore”), but ANYWHERE, Théâtre l’Entrouvert’s stirring puppet-show, makes time tangible by melting it.
Presented in a collaboration with the Chicago International Puppet Festival and HERE Arts Center through March 2nd, this dreamlike account of Oedipus casts its central character as a marionette made of ice. Conceived by Elise Vigneron and Helene Barreau, and directed by Claire Saxe for its American premiere, ANYWHERE is inspired by Henry Bauchau’s novel Oedipus on the Road, which imagines the exiled king’s journey after Oedipus Rex and before Antigone. The production presents a unique ending for the cursed Theban: eventually, the blind, beleaguered king melts into a puddle.
On paper, not much else happens. The conflict in Sophocles’ story has already transpired. At one point, Oedipus appears to be stoned by offstage aggressors, but mostly his main antagonist is time. For about an hour the marionette is manipulated—walking, levitating—slowly across the stage, accompanied by Ashwaty Chennat (no strings attached) as Antigone, whose presence serves as a striking contrast to the diminutive puppet. We see Chennat guide and cradle the skeletal marionette like an infant, evoking the three-legged stage of the sphinx's riddle. During moments when her character’s resolve appears to waver, it’s as if the invisible strings controlling Chennat have been cut, and the puppet seems to take on the role as caretaker in a surreal but touching reversal. The set, with its jagged rocks arranged in a circle, suggests an ancient ritual site, as if Oedipus had been led there by fate for sacrifice. Pascal Charrier’s score provides a solemn backdrop to the mostly wordless performance. The overall tone is one of foreboding and tragic inevitability.
ANYWHERE is also messy—in the best way. By curtain call Chennat was soaking wet with what appeared to be a combination of water, ink, and milk. These physical transformations—like the melting marionette—blur the lines between metaphor and reality, heightening the show's mysterious power. Watching Oedipus dissolve, I was reminded of Marina Abramovic’s takedown of traditional theatre. “Theatre is fake,” she trolled. “The knife is not real, the blood is not real, and the emotions are not real. Performance [art] is just the opposite: the knife is real, the blood is real, and the emotions are real.” Similarly, with ANYWHERE, the marionette melting before our eyes is real: Oedipus’ body is actually destroyed, not by fate or flaw, but by physics. There is plenty of magic, but no illusion.
Like any critical thinker of the theatre, Vigneron is interested in the ephemeral. With her melting marionettes she’s found a powerful vehicle for this exploration. Saxe and her team traveled to France to collaborate with Vigneron on the production, and American audiences are lucky to be exposed to this work. Perhaps we will be treated to future productions—ANYWHERE is part of a trilogy that deploys ice puppets.
After the show, puppeteer Mark Blashford explained the rigorous process he repeats for each performance. Oedipus’ aluminum skeleton is submerged in a watery cast and lodged in a freezer for 22 hours. He’s born again in ice, only to be subjected to the same fate as the night before. The whole ritual is like a microcosm for theatrical performance: you’ll never see the same Oedipus twice.
