Animated Delights (Holly Wedgwood)

When you think of theatre, or theatre festivals, you don’t ever really associate them with the idea of animation. Animation belongs in a film festival – right?

Wrong.

This Feburary the Traverse theatre played host to the exciting visual arts festival Manipulate which brought with it theatre from all over the globe and (yes, you guessed it) animation.

 

But why?

Maybe a happy coincidence or the plan all along – either way, you can’t knock a relaxing late night animated showcase after a spot of theatre.

This festival, I was lucky enough to catch two of the animated show cases: Oppressed Creatures which showed the work of Estonian Ulo Pikkov, and Animated Nightmares which played the work of England’s  Robert Morgan. Both shows juxtapose quite neatly (one being delightfully European; the other terrifyingly gruesome).

Prior to their own films, we also got to see examples of works which inspired them so we could see where their vision came from; and between the films the animators themselves introduced and chatted with us, answering questions and regaling us with their stories.

All in all, it was worth every minute and while I found some pieces of animation ambiguous or totally nonsensical the animators helpful explanations brought to light that some times it’s more about appreciating craft than the creation.

In the case of Ulo Pikkov a lot of his work stood more like a beautiful piece of art than a film. So this brings me to thinking – where is the line between film and theatre? Does theatre have to be on a stage for it to be “theatre” and where does animation sit in the middle of a “theatre festival”? The answer is that it probably doesn’t – logically – but it’s bit like cheese and chocolate … until you try them together you’ll never know if they fit, and when they do well, isn’t that just perfect?

Now, having experienced this duo, I can vouch for it being a marriage made in heaven! Even if it’s only to appreciate an art form, the next time Manipulate shows up on our doorstep at the Traverse for the ninth time – make a point to head to two shows in one night and make sure that one of them is animation and you’ll find that you unwind and soak up an art form that is unappreciated, delightful, uplifting, often bewildering, insightful and always a joy.