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It is our pleasure to announce that we will present the French premiere of our show, Hans Dudeldee and Other Forgotten Fairytales, this August 13th and 14th  thanks to collaborations with Casteliers and Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal .

Click here to jump to the full story in English below.

C’est avec grand plaisir que nous vous annonçons les premières représentations de notre spectacle Hans Dudeldee et autres contes oubliés en version française! Elles auront lieu les 13 et 14 août, en collaboration avec Casteliers et Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal.

Cela fait déjà un bon moment que nous avions ce désir de performer en français, et grâce au support de ces deux organismes montréalais, nous avons maintenant un spectacle francophone à notre répertoire! C’était aussi un beau défi et un accomplissement personnel pour nos deux membres anglophones, Debbie et Jesse.

Complétant le trio, Chantale, dont la langue maternelle est le français, écrit la musique et joue de l’accordéon pour les spectacles anglophones du Théâtre Flying Box depuis 2015. Récemment encouragées par Casteliers à créer une version française d’un de nos spectacles, Chantale releva le défi avec enthousiasme et devint notre traductrice. Nous avons ensuite reçu l’appui de Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal qui nous ont généreusement prêté leur locaux de répétitions. Durant ces répétitions nous avons aussi eu l’honneur de travailler encore une fois avec Anne Lalancette qui nous apporta son support et ses idées par rapport au scénario, à la prononciation et à la mise en scène.

Merci à nos précieux collaborateurs qui ont rendu possible cette belle aventure dans la francophonie!

Hans Dudeldee et autres contes oubliés en version française:

Dimanche 13 août, 11h et 14h
Parc St-Viateur 525 av Bloomfield
En cas de pluie, le spectacle sera présenté à l’intérieur du Pavillon du parc Saint-Viateur)

Lundi 14 août, 10h30
parc Toussaint-Louverture des Habitations Jeanne-Mance dans l’arrondissement de Ville – Marie.
En cas de pluie, le spectacle sera présenté à l’intérieur du chalet du parc Toussaint-Louverture.

Hans Dudeldee et autres contes oubliés, c’est trois contes tirés d’une collection oubliée depuis 160 ans dans des archives de Bavière, et remis au goût du jour par le théâtre Flying Box. De la marionnette à fil à la marionnette 2D, en passant par le théâtre et la narration, le tout accompagné de musique live à l’accordéon, ce spectacle saura ravir petits et grands! Venez chanter et danser avec nous, rencontrer la petite géante et la lune qui parle, et surtout aider Hans Dudledee à renverser le mauvais sort du château enchanté!  

Voici une courte bande-annonce (avec des extraits de la versions anglais):

Above is a short trailer for the show.

This announcement means a lot to us because it’s an honor to have the support of these two important Montreal organizations and it’s a personal accomplishment to perform in la belle langue.   That is, it’s an accomplishment for Debbie and Jesse, our two anglophone members!

Completing our trio is Chantale, a native french speaker, who has been writing songs, singing, playing her accordion and performing in English with the Flying Box since 2015. When we were recently encouraged by Casteliers to create a french version of our most popular show, Chantale took up the challenge and became our translator.  After that work was done we teamed up with Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, who is supporting this project by offering up their studio space for rehearsals.  For this PWM supported translation workshop we called once again upon the skills of Montreal director and puppeteer Anne Lalancette, who came in to coach us in puppetry and pronunciation.

Thank you to these collaborators who’ve made our first foray into the French language possible!

Hans Dudeldee et les contes oubliés en version française:

Dimanche 13 août, 11h et 14h
Parc St-Viateur 525 av Bloomfield
En cas de pluie, le spectacle sera présenté à l’intérieur du Pavillon du parc Saint-Viateur)

Lundi 14 août, 10h30
parc Toussaint-Louverture des Habitations Jeanne-Mance dans l’arrondissement de Ville – Marie.
En cas de pluie, le spectacle sera présenté à l’intérieur du chalet du parc Toussaint-Louverture.

Please check out these colourful images of our 35 minute show for ages 3 and up, Prince Dung Beetle!

Barbara is bored with the same old fairytales…

…so her mother tells her the story of The Blue Prince, who once lived just where they live, a long long time ago…

….And Barbara soon finds herself in a fairytale of her very own!

Time flies, doesn’t it?  A whole year ago we were preparing for the debut of our second puppetry adaptation, Prince Dung Beetle, and since then we have added collaborators to the project and completed a second creation period to improve the show.  That first version feels far in the past now!

The image above is a snapshot of the new version of Prince Dungbeetle, with an updated script and expanded toy theatre sections (toy theatre is a two dimensional puppetry tradition).

The best part about this re-working of the show was realizing the value of collaborators.  When only our core company of three is working in the studio, we have no one to act as an outside eye.  We can record video of ourselves rehearsing, but nothing can replace the eye of a good director.

Last fall we were lucky enough to bring Anne Lalancette on board as a rehearsal director and puppetry coach for Prince Dung Beetle.  She worked wonders!  Developing any number of aspects from acting to choreography and puppet mechanics, our sessions with her brought the show to a new level.

Along side the creation of this puppet show we’ve been developing and testing workshops for kids and parents that can connect to the performance.  Our favorite version so far involves leading our young audience members to make musical maracas which they later play during the show.  It’s very rewarding to guide children to learn hands-on skills and then see them expressing themselves and having fun during our shows.

Stay tuned for updates –  Prince Dung Beetle and a hands-on maracas workshop will take place this June!

We’ve had a busy week here at the Flying Box Theatre getting ready for the first performance of Prince Dung Beetle at the Centaur Theatre Children’s Series this Saturday!

Here’s a sneak peek of some of our new puppet friends:

The heros of our story, Barbara and the Dung Beetle, flying together.

The scarab beetle, a type of dung beetle revered by ancient Egyptians.

The prince on horseback, in three sizes. Waiting for the final coat of paint!

The performance is on Saturday, April 9 at 10:30am at the Centaur Theatre. Tickets are $6.00 for kids and $8.00 for adults, and can be reserved by calling 514-288-3161

Hope to see you there!

The Flying Box Theatre presents

Prince Dung Beetle

Saturday April 9th at 10:30am

453 Rue Saint-François-Xavier, Montréal, QC H2Y 2T1

part of the Centaur Theatre Children’s Series

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The Flying Box lands at Centaur Theatre for a second instalment of the Forgotten Fairytales series.  Focusing on catchy accordion music, toy theatre (aka: paper theatre) and silliness, Prince Dung Beetle is an interactive puppetry and storytelling show adapted from a long-lost Bavaria folk tale.  Ideal for kids aged 3-5, we welcome people of all ages to join us for a story about young Barbara and her love for all things great and small.

Tickets available by calling 514-288-3161

Ticket Prices: Adults: $8.00 Children: $6.00

Limited Seating Available – book your tickets now!

We recently had the pleasure to make puppets with a whole gang of kids and their parents at Festival OUF the “off” Castelier Festival, which took place February 27th to March 6th 2016.  What fun! 

It was wonderful to see parents working creatively with their kids, and having adult supervision allowed us to welcome kids of many ages to our workshop (from 3 to about 30 years, in fact!). The simple cone puppets, who truly excel at playing peek-a-boo, were loved by all and transformed into glamorous ladies, mermaids, spies and superheroes. Not bad!

These puppets were based on a traditional structure, and here’s a little secret: we designed them to fit in with our upcoming production, Prince Dung Beetle!  Stay tuned for Prince Dung Beetle at the Centaur Theatre Children’s Series at 10:30 am on Saturday April 9th.

(english below)

ATELIER DE FABRICATION EN FAMILLE

Par The Flying Box Theatre

Présenté dans le cadre du OUF Festival Off Casteliers

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We recently had the pleasure to work with photographer Maude Touchette during a small showing of Forgotten Fairy Tales. Click here to see our “behind the scenes” photo album.