Created by 2010 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Theatre, Janni Younge, Ouroboros is a tale of dreaming and the cycles of life. At its heart, it is a love story between a dancer and a poet finding the courage to commit.

The production marks the first collaboration between Jones, Kohler and Younge, who has joined the Handspring Puppet Company as Associate Director.

Using the unique transforming powers of the puppetry medium, the two characters are able to appear as several versions of themselves. Audiences witness the unfolding drama of their lives from birth to death. Their interactions form a web of relationships, revealing the interdependence of the past, present and future.

In its recent run at the Baxter Ouroboros received outstanding reviews including 4* in Die Burger and Argus. Emily Gambade (Daily Maverick) said “Sometimes even the seasoned theatre-goers get to be surprised, elated and dazzled by the performance less expected…(I) encountered such brilliance at Ouroboros.”

Based on the work of US poet laureate Billy Collins the production is set to original music by Neo Muyanga and Eppelsource with choreography by Mamela Nyamza and lighting by Mannie Mannim. Ouroboros is an extraordinary puppetry production by one of South Africa’s leading creative teams.

About Janni Younge:
Janni Younge has an honours degree in Fine Art (UCT, first class, major sculpture), a DMA from the French National School of Puppetry Arts (ESNAM) where she studied from 1999 to 2002 and an MA (Masters) in Theatre (UCT 2007). In 2003 she became chairperson of UNIMA SA (the South African association of puppetry and visual performance) and founded her theatre company Sogo Visual Theatre.

Sogo Visual Theatre produces and creates contemporary puppet theatre for adults and young audiences and has toured widely. Titles include Fineline, Elise’s Adventures in Congoland, Violet Rose Bite, Dolos and Thandi.

In 2005 she was initiator and director of Out the Box: festival of puppetry and visual performance, produced by UNIMA SA and has spearheaded the festival for the past six editions.

In 2006 she launched the UNIMA SA Active Puppets training and development program. She co-curated, managed and hung At Arms Length an exhibition of Malian and South African puppets in New York. In 2007 she directed and designed Pulse of Mali for the Gold Restaurant. She was the head of the puppet department (studio and manipulation) on the television pilot for Z News (political satire) for which she was sent to France to train.

In 2008 Janni was flown to the UNIMA International congress in Perth where she was instrumental in the formation of the Africa commission for puppetry of which she is a member. She created the puppets and masks for FTH:K’s Pictures of you, created life-sized Elephant parade puppets (for Solms Delta) and produced and directed Shooting The Rain, a community theatre production about the effects of global warming which has been performed across South Africa (Johannesburg, Cpe Town and Uppington). In 2009 Janni made and choreographed the puppets for The Tempest, a Baxter Royal Shakespeare Company co-production which toured South Africa and the UK. Janni’s puppets were featured in five productions at the National Arts Festival 2009 including High Diving (Weekend Special Theatre), Kock Up (Conrad Koch) and Pictures Of You (FTH:K). Janni has designed puppets for several different commercial and television productions, has taught Sculpture and Theatre at the University of Cape Town and puppetry in many different contexts.Janni was named the 2010 Standard Bank Young Artist for theatre.

Janni was CEO of UNIMA SA expanding its programmes and developing its infrastructure, until June 2011, when she left to join Handspring Puppet Company.

About Handspring Puppet Company:
Handspring Puppet Company was founded in 1981 by four graduates of the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, South Africa. Two of the co-founders, Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones, continue to run the company. Originally they created shows for children and thereafter works for adult audiences. Arguably one of the greatest puppetry companies in the world, Handspring has since collaborated with a succession of innovative South Africa directors including Malcolm Purkey, Barney Simon and artist William Kentridge.

Apart from seasons throughout theatres across South Africa, Handspring has been presented at many international festivals including Edinburgh, the Avignon Festival, the Next Wave Festival at BAM in New York, The African Odyssey Festival at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, Theatre d’ Automne in Paris, Theatre der Welt in Germany, as well as in Hong Kong, Singapore, Adelaide, Zurich and Bogota.

The company provides an artistic home and professional base for a core group of performers, designers, theatre artists and technicians who collaborate with them on a project basis. Based in South Africa they continue to explore the boundaries of adult puppet theatre within an African context.

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