La Manékine
Review by Ryan
⭐⭐⭐⭐
MimeLondon 2025 has arrived at The Barbican with a fresh face on an old European folk tales.
Gracing the stage are a variety of creative puppets ranging from small handhelds to possessing human-sized entities. They tell a story, based on the Grimm Brothers’, The Girl Without Hands, about a girl whose hands are cut off after her father makes a deal with the devil for riches. She runs away to fend for herself, falling in love with a King who leaves his entire kingdom for her. It's a classic story of greed in a time when the value of humanity and caring for people desperately needs to be reminded.
Fuelling the narrative are impressive props that create a visual spectacle and emotion-driven tale of a tormented girl trying to carve out her own journey in life, with the Devil on her tail. As the story grows, so do the puppets with an impressive reveal of larger puppets working in collaboration with smaller "puppet show" style contraptions co-inhabiting the space.
Underscoring the majority of the performances was Martin Kaspar Orkestar as an extremely impressive one-person-orchestra, playing multiple instruments at once and creating a haunting backdrop to the drama. Utilising a drum kit, wind instruments, an accordion and more was very impressive and the perfect soundtrack behind the story.
Estelle Charlier's physicality is unique and creative, creating the essence of blank faced masks and bringing humanity into them. Her movement blended the plot into the puppets and allowed the audience's interpretation to bleed onto the stage. Embodying characters regal and lowly, toxic and fragile, her characterisation fed the canvases she equipped.
Intruding on the almost cinematic landscapes was stints of dialogue, mostly in French with a few lines of English. To translate for the audience, subtitles appeared on the projection screen though these were badly translated and often very delayed causing a jarring disruption to the otherwise intelligent and passionate craft on stage.
La Manékine is a profoundly emotive story brought to life by incredible puppets and props. An ode to traditional stories with a modern twist.