It's easy to tell a story without dialogue. Silent films did it for years. But what about with no dialogue and without the information of facial expressions? What kind of story can you tell through silhouette and music?
FAQ
Manual Cinema’s
‘Lula Del Ray’
WHEN — 7 p.m. Thursday
WHERE — Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville
COST — $10; limited tickets remain
INFO — 443-5600, waltonartscenter.org
"I feel like it makes us deal with a little bit more universal themes because we're dealing with metaphor and motif and action," says Julia Miller, co-artistic director of performance collective Manual Cinema. Using shadow puppetry, overhead projectors, live music and other innovative cinematic techniques, Manual Cinema takes the audience on a journey doing just that: almost no dialogue and without smiles, frowns, grimaces or grief. The characters must use gestures and body language to tell the story.
"I feel like all those things combined give the audience a little more space to put themselves in the show," Miller says of the group's "Lula Del Ray," an adventurous coming-of-age journey through feelings everyone can relate to. "I think that happens with puppets, too, because the puppeteers and sound and music are helping them come alive, but the audience also has to invest in them to make them come alive as well. People get really swept up into the story and forget sometimes the tools being used to tell the story are really simple, but it can really transport you as an audience member."
NAN What's Up on 04/28/2017