Visual metaphors

Above:From the show A Touch of Light. The horse in Luis's final dream is a metaphor for the leap forewards-towards discovery-freedom-fulfillment of his childhood wish to be a saddler as his father which now embodies his new wish to read and write.

Transcripts from national and foreign press

About HEAD IN THE CLOUDS:

• ''in the world of puppets and animated objects the Train Theater, the Israeli company that groups at least a dozen of puppeteers, figures among the best due to the high quality of its shows….Patricia O'Donovan who bears the heaviest responsibility in this production….this magnificent actress and puppeteer".

From: "Con la Cabeza en las Nubes. II Festival Internacional de Títeres". Guillermo Murray Prisant. El Universal. México.14/08/89 (in Spanish).

• ''We witnessed a large number of performances from many different countries. We would particularly like to mention "Head in the Clouds"….which delighted everybody with it's originality-particularly the daring and direct language based on Patricia's work as an actress and the theater of objects."

MISCELANEA. El Magazine de la Marioneta. Barcelona, España. Redacción: Toni Rumbau y Eugenio Navarro.1990.

• "The most beautiful was the Train Theater's "Head in the Clouds" prepared by Patricia O'Donovan and Alan Whinston. Patricia was the solo player who brought to life the world of little Josette….the execution was exquisite….Patricia… has an expressive face and a sense of humor which helped her to convey the importance of all the little girls' problems. The audience was completely conquered".
  

Jerusalem the Stronghold: by Henryk Jurkovsky in Animations October 1990.

• "Head in the Clouds… outstanding object theater, fundamental theater, primal, the one close to the heart of every child"

All the world a stage. By Nomi Ben-Gur. Davar. Israel. 22/12/91

• "I will open with praises, since not often does one bump into such a wonderful show, full of imagination, rich in inventions, humor, good taste and beauty. So wonderful that I wished it would go on for ever".

Entrance ticket. Infinite richness. YIDIOT ACHARONOT.27/04/90

About A TOUCH OF LIGHT

• "Originally conceived for children A TOUCH OF LIGHT kept the adults fascinated by the magic of the animation and reassured by the modesty of the direction. One speaks of a "small miracle" in relation to this third spectacle by the Israeli company. It is a magical show of lights and shadows that cast light on the life of an amazing child. It is as well an important show both in its artistic level and on the level of its contents and meaning"
  

Francoise Gourbeyre, director of the Nouveau Espace Culturel de Saint-Priest-en-Jarez." In: Le Mensuel de la Culture en Rhone-Alps.

December 1999. (25) by J. Balsamo.

• "….Patricia O'Donovan playwright, director and performer of a show that tells children the life of Louis Braille. From a story that tells about his hardships and pains she eliminated all pathos, all tearful compassion. A kind of theatrical asceticism, A TOUCH OF LIGHT is practically anti spectacular. A lesson in minimalism that succeeds in touching the children and often making them laugh to tears. Sitting crossed legged next to a sand box, on a podium that makes her stage, Patricia O'Donovan animates small silhouettes in white paper lined out in black ink. And she plays, like a child and like an actress, giving life to those allusive representations of bodies which become, in an amusing classroom scene: the uproar, the teacher in a grey coat and shrill voice, the bells that rings for reces ,the joyful scattering of the children in the courtyard ,the solitude of little Louis, sitting in his bench during the recess, everything is there, contained within a handful of pencils planted in the sand.

The other element in this top quality performance that unfolds under the eyes of the spectators is the light: a few candles and a simple table lamp. She illuminates the most delicate scenes: the accident that causes Louis' blindness, told modestly by the use of shadows, next the child's progressive sinking into the night, expressed by two little candles that are blown out, seen through the eyes of a paper mask. That simple."

Le Monde.Weekly Aden.Paris. 21-27 Avril 99.V.C.

• " By comparison Patricia O'Donovan of AMBULO company displays weightless magic with the story named A TOUCH OF LIGHT, written and played by herself. The stage is a sand box. Patricia O'Donovan crouches in it, lights a candle, moves small walls, builds houses, schools and puts them aside. She lets shadows grow and moves around mysteriously, holds figures in her hand- as light as a feather, flat, cut out from paper like material, with molded small heads. The narrator brings it into play and into life, often for a few moments only and then lays it to rest again. The secret of magic awakening and disappearance grows from the reality of the acting persons, who are materially real and, at the same time , sheerest products of fantasy……O'Donovan tells her story calmly (and in German), without any sentimentality, almost in a matter-of-fact way. But touching fantasy and warm hearted humor live in the gentle , tender handling of the paper creatures……A small electric light, a couple of candles illuminate this adventure of playful simplicity. A TOUCH OF LIGHT –this was something of a wonder in the crazy world of technology."

Kristoph Funke. Children and Young people's Theater.In: Theater Heute 6/97.

• "…..one takes special pleasure in the charm, the fantasy and the joy of performing which reached their height with Patricia O'Donovan of Jerusalem who told, using simple paper figures and pencils how the blind young Louis Braille at the age of fifteen, invented the Braille system .A TOUCH OF LIGHT, the title of the play, was translated as A GLIMMER OF LIGHT in the German program. How true!!! ".

Sabine Leucht. Die Tageszeitung Berlin. 03-04/05/97.

• "….a miracle is the third Israeli contribution, the play (A TOUCH OF LIGHT) by Patricia O'Donovan (Ambulo company / Train Theater, Jerusalem.) With white and black, paper thin figures before and behind candles-and modest spotlights. It is as if a child in the small sandbox proceeds with the creation of worlds. People, animals, plants appear, cast shadows, are mysteriously carried away and, at the same time, remain tangibly real in the form of flat, vulnerable paper figures ……..Gently, though without any sentimentality, the actress plays episodes of his lifespan, which is presented in German in this guest performance. It is touching how she handles the delicate figures lovingly, gives them life , frequently for a few moments only, and how every event becomes sensory by magical inventions and the simplest means: once a tiny knight's castle burns in a gun battle,…..The spectators were spellbound"

Christof Funke. Der Tagesspiel Berlin. 03/05/97.

• "…what can one do and say when one is asked to write a few lines about a show that leaves one speechless. What can one say about fifty minutes of pleasure that leave the children filled with wonder and the adults amazed? The words preclude the magic of the show which made out of very simple means, allows the spectators' imagination to explode and to talk about the ineffable."

A.L. Fonbaustier. Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace.03/06/02.

• " A TOUCH OF LIGHT " a one woman piece……is a moving experience which strikes the chords of the heart and soul………Her ideas are ingenious….but most of all Patricia performs with true love and commitment to her art and to the story she tells………The applause echoes the heart as the lights go out-we are yet to return to the real world!"

Lisa Cameron. Youth Performing Arts in Australia.8/97.

• "No pathos in this story, but imagination, precision, humor. To make the spectators, adults and children alike, penetrate the solitude of those whom our hypocritical end of the century calls the visually impaired is not anyone's guess in advance. The Ambulo company took it as its matter of concern, and won."

Laurent Perez. La Marseillaise.

• "….she manages for one hour to captivate both children and adults so that they could not but give her-for this meaningful accomplishment- a thundering applause and cries of enthusiasm. So much excitement for this extraordinary and highly artistic performance was never enough."

Helmuth Hilgers. Grez Echo.St.Vith,14/10/97.

• "The children are seated in absolute silence. Not because of a horrifying event on stage but actually because of the calm and poetic way the experience of becoming blind is presented…There are so many engaging subjects to talk about with the children about this show-about heroism, the marks of a hero, curiosity and the thirst of knowledge, and about creative thinking. A torrent of questions is a marvelous sign. It is a sign that something penetrated the layer of daily life, moved something in all of us spectators, made us feel excited and ponder. All what a first class show can do".

By Shirly Yuval- Yair. Idiot Ajaronot.Ynet. Full article  in Hebrew:

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3713393,00.html

About IAN'S DAUGHTER:

"Ian's Daughter is one of the outstanding shows for children...it brings an equilibrium rare to find between past and present, between the historical and the actual, the emotional and the intellectual, the fearful and the naïve, the puerile and the mature"

by Dr.Olga Levitan. Appeared in the UNIMA-Israel website. July 2007.

Read article by Dr.Olga Levitan in this post.

Lullabies

Thursday August 26,2010 : On lullabies, Lorca and the making of my puppet show AMANILI SINGS. (full Lorca's text below)

Lorca's text "Las Nanas Infantiles' in English.

נקודת אור - A Touch of Light - Louis L'Enfant de la Nuit

A TOUCH OF LIGHT is based on the biography of Louis Braille,the inventor of the alphabet for the blind. I created the show in 1994 and since then it is performed all over Israel and abroad. It is produced by the Train Theater of Jerusalem ( Teatron ha Karon in Hebrew)and you can watch a bit of the show in the website of the Train Theater. It has been acclaimed by critics and the public since its inception and has been invited to participate in all major international puppet theaters in the world. In France it has performed over 2000 times and has been accepted by the League of Teachers as a recommended spectacle.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

PERFORMANCES IN FRANCE:  leminuteman.

PERFORMANCES IN ISRAEL : Train Theater

PRESS: http://patriciaodonovan.com/category/press/

Foreign press transcripts

http://leminuteman.aquaray.com/patricia/patfr.html#La%20presse

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL: Festivals and Tours abroad

Above: note that the map was made in 2004 and since then the show goes on till the present!!!

 Photos from the show

YouTube video in Hebrew