By Julie-Anne Whitney
‘The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish’ – Written by Alexander Pushkin; Directed by Evgeny Ibragimov; Set, Costume, and Puppet Design by Ksenya Litvak; Masks designed by Katya Popova; Original Music by Nikolay Yakimov; Lighting Design by Stephen Petrilli; Stage managed by Inessa Ostrova. Presented by Arlekin Players Theatre in Needham, MA through April 12, 2020.
Please note: this is a non-verbal 60-minute performance suitable for ages 4 and up.
The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish is a fable published in 1833 by acclaimed Russian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer, Aleksandr Pushkin. The story has been translated into several languages and adapted into many other art forms (paintings, poems, short stories, ballets, songs, animated films, and plays), perhaps most famously by the Brothers Grimm in their German fairy tale version, The Fisherman and His Wife (1905).
Pushkin’s story centers on the strange and fanciful journey of a poor fisherman and his unhappy wife. Every day the fisherman goes out to sea to catch food but rarely comes back with anything. One day he catches a golden fish that speaks to him in a human voice, offering to be of assistance to the man in exchange for his freedom. Feeling sorry for the animal, the old man decides he doesn’t need anything and sets the fish free. But after telling his wife about this surprising interaction she scolds him for being a foolish man, and repeatedly sends him back to the golden fish to ask for bigger and better things: plenty of bread to eat, a new washbasin, a larger house, higher social status, servants, a royal title, and more. The fish grants all of the woman’s requests until one day she asks for too much and the fish swims away, never to return. When the fisherman arrives back home, he finds his wife and their cottage just as they had been before – poor, simple, and plain.
Director Evgeny Ibragimov’s extraordinary vision takes this story – usually interpreted as a lesson about greed – and turns it into an imaginative and moving tale about a man who loves his wife so much he would do anything to make her happy, even if it means losing her. Ibragimov’s staging is inventive, lively, and joyful. He makes the puppets fly, he makes them dance, he makes them cry, he makes them real.
Puppetry is an ancient art dating back more than 4,000 years. The characters may be made in many different forms: flat puppets, hand/glove puppets, shadow puppets, human arm/“two-man” puppets, carnival/body puppets, marionettes, ventriloquist “dummies,” and more. For the Arlekin Players production, Ksenya Litvak has designed more than a dozen puppets, including four versions of the golden fish, two versions of both the fisherman and his wife, three (hilarious and charismatic) sheep, and others. Most of the characters are rod puppets with amazing flexibility and complex expressions. The 11 puppeteers working and interacting with the puppets are able to add a surprising depth of emotion just by the way they hang or turn a puppet’s head, or slump his shoulders, or point his fingers, or hold out his hand, or stomp his feet. Without any words spoken, you always know what the puppets are feeling.
Litvak also designed the set – or, to put it more accurately, the world of the play – which begins before you even enter into the theater. When you open the door and ascend the staircase to the lobby, you are welcomed by colorful hand-painted images of the story’s characters and their adventures. These playful, expressive paintings are found throughout the entire theater – on the walls, the pillars, and the floor – pulling you right into the story and making you a part of it.
Stephen Petrilli’s vibrant, textured lighting design makes the small black box space feel truly magical. The way he plays with darkness, shadow, color, and light is nothing short of masterful. Synchronizing key plot moments with the sound design and original music by Nikolay Yakimov, Petrilli creates sunsets, lightning, and storms on the ever-changing “ocean wave” (a large piece of plastic manipulated by four puppeteers), and the cage of light he places around the sad fisherman while he drinks alone on the beach actually made my heart ache.
This production has something for everyone. It’s family-friendly, it’s funny, it’s moving, and most importantly, it shares a valuable message about the complexity of love – how painful and powerful it can be, how tiresome and invigorating, but how simple and magical it can be, too. For tickets and information, go to: https://www.arlekinplayers.com
