{"id":6481,"date":"2018-03-15T07:29:03","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T11:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=6481"},"modified":"2018-03-15T07:34:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T11:34:29","slug":"ronnie-burkett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/03\/15\/ronnie-burkett\/","title":{"rendered":"Up Close With Ronnie Burkett\u2019s Marionette \u2018Love Letter To Theater And Show Biz\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThe show is a love letter to theater and show biz,\u201d Ronnie Burkett says during a question-and-answer session after performing his \u201cThe Daisy Theatre\u201d<\/a> at Montreal\u2019s Centaur Theatre last Thursday night. It\u2019s a semi-improvised, cabaret-style marionette comedy show that he\u2019s been performing since 2013. The show was the opening performance of Montreal\u2019s 13th annual Festival de Casteliers<\/a>, a showcase of international puppetry (which sponsored my visit).<\/p>\n

\"Louise<\/a>
Louise Lapointe (left), co-general director and artistic director of Montreal’s Festival de Casteliers, speaks with Ronnie Burkett after a performance of his “The Daisy Theater,” March 8, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Burkett, a legend in puppetry and Canadian theater, has been performing puppets since at least the 1970s and formed his Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes in 1986.<\/p>\n

The Toronto-based performer is known for scripted shows that address weighty themes. His breakout hit was 1994\u2019s \u201cTinka\u2019s New Dress,\u201d a show about the Holocaust that was inspired by underground cabarets that sprang up in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and were nicknamed \u201cdaisies\u201d because of lore that the flowers could sprout in the dark. (It\u2019s these daisies that give the current \u201cDaisy Theatre\u201d its name.) In the show \u201cStreet of Blood,\u201d he spoke about AIDS. In \u201c10 Days on Earth,\u201d he addressed mental illness.<\/p>\n

Burkett says, \u201c\u2019The Daisy\u2019 is the only time I\u2019ve been able to make anything I\u2019ve wanted to make and throw it on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n