Luminato 2013: The Daisy Theatre

What do a stylish cow, a stage diva, a cross-dressing military man, an Albertan house wife and a couple of crazy clowns have in common? They are all characters in Ronnie Burkett’s latest show, on stage now at the Berkeley Street Theatre as part of this year’s Luminato Festival. Inspired by the illegal underground “daisy” puppet shows of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, The Daisy Theatre is a mostly improvised production hosted by Burkett with a resident company of more than 30 marionettes. Each night the puppets perform variety acts, music and a new short playet by one of 10 Canadian playwrights.

On Saturday night the award-winning Anusree Roy (Pyaasa, Brothel # 9) joined Burkett on stage for a hilarious 10-minute performance of “Wedding Date,” a conversation between a daughter and her overprotective Indian father in the back seat of a cab. Other highlights included moments of audience participation: one man was invited to manipulate a piano playing marionette, and another was asked to turn the crank of a trunk, revealing, much to the audience's delight, an orchestra of moving musician puppets inside. The craftmanship that goes into each of Burkett's characters is simply magnificent.

Chock-full of off-colour humour and local political references, Burkett’s experimental content is hit or miss, but definitely worth checking out (maybe even more than once since every show will be different).

Catch The Daisy Theatre until June 23 at the Berkeley Street Theatre. Visit luminatofestival.com for more information and to buy tickets.

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