- by Carla Lever.

Multi-talented Pascale Neuschäfer is an actress, voice artist, videographer and currently – for the purposes of this year’s Out the Box festival – puppeteer. She’s also quick to point out that my satisfyingly alliterative title is a misnomer. Pascale’s Out the Box work is no strings attached: the puppets she manipulates range from rod-operated to a traditional Japanese style called a Bunrako puppet. “Some of the Bunrako puppets are nearly life-sized and difficult to breathe life into. It takes two, sometimes three people to manipulate them. Every tiny gesture the character makes means a carefully choreographed sequence of movements between the lead and secondary puppeteers, who communicate to each other through their breath.”

 

Part of an ensemble cast, Pascale manipulates and voices a puppet called Yoshiji in Jaqueline Dommisse’s production of Sadako. Together with Roshina Ratnam, Pascale is also the secondary puppeteer of Sadako herself, a small Japanese child swept up in a story much larger than her age. It’s gruelling work. “Roshina and I spent hours together just walking the puppet up and down: learning how to sit, to stand, to tie Sadako’s shoes, all the while silently communicating. It’s very much like learning a dance.”

 

So, no place for the arthritic, then? “Puppetry is incredibly hard work and requires extreme focus. You want to find an inner stillness – a detachment from the puppet – and yet, at the same time, nothing else in this world exists beyond the puppet. It’s almost like meditating,” she laughs. “It’s also quite physically demanding. We spend an hour each morning just warming up our bodies. We do a variety of things: yoga, martial arts, basic fitness training, some tai chi. There is even a brick inside a plastic bag which we roll up and down on a stick to strengthen our forearms.  We were also fortunate enough to have Jason Potgieter from Handspring come and give us intensive puppet workshops, which was a wonderful opportunity.”

With all these demands, what takes the most strain during runs like ‘Sadako’? “My brain” she quips. With countless markers, positions, cues and lighting angles to memorise, it’s no wonder.

 

Sadako is the tale of a little Japanese girl who develops leukaemia in the aftermath of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Following the belief that those people who fold a thousand origami paper cranes will be granted a wish, she embarks on a journey of creation and discovery, taking the audience with her. The show was specifically written for teenagers, but easily draws adults into its story.

Based on real events and characters, there is no doubt that Sadako will pull poignantly at the heartstrings, but is this something that concerns Pascale? “Quite the contrary. I think it is a powerful way to get the audience to really engage with questions around war and humanity. It’s ultimately just the story of a little girl and how she and her family are affected by the consequences of political decisions far outside their family reality. War happens every day, but it has become something we simply ‘see on the news’. Because the medium of theatre is immediate and intimate, I think it can unlock very real emotions for an audience. I think people are drawn to beautiful storytelling and important stories and this really is one of those.”

It would seem to be the case. At its sold out festival premiere in Grahamstown, Sadako was described by Cue as an “exquisitely moving true fable.” You can catch Pascale with the full cast of Sadako on  6 September at 20:00 and 7 September at both 12:00 and 20:00. Tickets are R50 and bookings can be made through Computicket.

 

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