Puppetopia 2024: Pescador

Delving into the most intimate sensations of characters immersed in solitary jobs, and facing the magnificent immensity of nature, the Silencio Blanco company dedicates its third stage production to people who live from the sea. Pescador (Fisherman) tells the story of a man, who, together with his boat and his fishing net, establishes an invaluable connection with his profession; an artisan who inhabits those places that have become strange and alien to us. Through puppets and elements of genuine eloquence, actor-manipulators coexist in a space where the company’s aesthetic work and research take on new focuses. A white puppet that protests the courage and heroism of everyone it represents, before five human bodies, the creators of this meeting. An encounter in silence and all its forms, an encounter in the dance of silence.

Created in 2017 and Silencio Blanco’s third production, Pescador deploys their largest cast to date to expose the small universe of independent fishermen who live off the sea. A lone character, with a single boat and net, submerged in a solitary trade, survives global reality in the face of nature’s magnificent immensity.

The creative team developed Pescador during months-long field research and interviews in the historic fishing towns of Chile whose fishermen still toil in one of the most dangerous industries and provide for one of the largest national exports, but live in relative obscurity in Chile and the rest of the world.

Great for audiences 12 and up.

Silencio Blanco has distinguished itself for its meticulous work with highly expressive puppets, built from everyday materials such as newspaper and chopsticks. The company articulates its productions from observation and research on the ground, delving into the lives of simple people and solitary jobs. Exploring through gestures and dispensing with text, they manage to transfer human movement to the puppet, causing an illusion in the viewer to the point of transmitting the heartbeats of the character.

Observation and interviews are the cornerstone of their field research and form the creative groundwork from which the company assembles. The creators consciously explore gestures and abandon text for a complete transference of human movement to the puppet, providing the characters a heartbeat perceptible in the spectator.

The company has toured extensively nationally and internationally, including Mexico (Escénica Festival), Belgium (Krokus Festival), France (Charleville-Mézières World Puppet Theatre Festival), Portugal (Lisbon Ibero-American Capital of Culture, Gulbenkian Foundation, Puppet Museum), Poland (Animart Festiwal, Lodz), United Kingdom (Brighton Festival), Denmark (Odin Teatret) and the United States (HERE Arts, New York City; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival; FUNDarte, Miami; Clarice Smith Center at University of Maryland; BOOM Arts, Portland, Oregon; Center for Art and Performance at University of California Los Angeles, Weis Center at Bucknell University, Pennsylvania; Raritan Community College, New Jersey).