ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar
Dracula: Lucy's Dream
By Plexus Polaire
Now Playing Chicago's Studabaker Theater as part of the
7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival
Dracula: Lucy's Dream, Plexus Polaire, France/Norway Credit: Christophe Raynaud de Lage
Suggested for ages 14+
Running Time 65 minutes
REVIEW
By Bonnie Kenaz-Mara
Last night was a wonderful kickoff for the 7th annual Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival with the beautifully macabre production of Dracula: Lucy's Dream. This unique, female-centric take on Bram Stoker’s age-old Dracula tale, brings new life to the story from Lucy’s point of view. We're elated to welcome back festival favorite, Plexus Polaire - Yngvild Aspeli - From France/Norway.
We loved this evocative storytelling with master level puppetry. Puppeteers seamlessly transformed from invisible forms clad head to toe in black, to characters interacting on stage with life sized puppet versions of Dracula and Lucy. The puppets also make stunning transformations from human forms to bats, spiders and even a dog, eliciting audible gasps and exclamations from the audience. We're still astonished at the range of motion involved in manipulating so many creatures and their differing tempos and ways of moving. There are horrifying Exorcist-like elements amid bone chilling beauty. And I'll never innocently befriend a stray dog again!
There is no dialogue and few lyrics, so language is no barrier to the universal appeal of this dark, dramatic piece from France/Norway. The mirror mazes, and multiple Lucy characters were a joy to see. The incredible score is full of haunting minor chords and dissonant noises. And the visual interplay of light and shadows meld with the etherial beauty of the puppet design, costumes, projection work, and set pieces, to create an unforgettable production. Plexus Polaire's work is truly world class and we are incredibly lucky in Chicago to have yet another of their unforgettable productions mounted here at the gorgeous, art deco Studebaker Theater.
This production is definitely created for adults, and not for the faint of heart. Please take the 14+ age suggestion seriously. We adored this piece, but it's the stuff of nightmares. Dracula: Lucy's Dream is epic storytelling and a must see. If you love the macabre, don't miss this!
Bonnie is a Chicago based writer, theatre critic, photographer, artist, and Mama to 2 amazing adults. She owns two websites where she publishes frequently: ChiILLiveShows.com (adult) & ChiILMama.com (family friendly).
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but from Lucy’s point of view, from festival favorite Plexus Polaire (France/Norway).
Dracula: Lucy's Dream, Plexus Polaire, France/Norway Credit: Christophe Raynaud de Lage
Dracula: Lucy's Dream
Plexus Polaire
France/Norway
Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave., downtown Chicago
Wednesday, January 15 at 7 p.m.; Friday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 18 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday, January 19 at 2 p.m.
65 minutes
14 and up
Tickets: $40-$48
France’s internationally acclaimed Plexus Polaire wowed Chicago audiences in 2023 with their spectacular, sold out performances of Moby Dick, and in 2019 with Chambre Noire. Now they’re back at the Studebaker, opening this year’s festival with the Chicago premiere of their internationally acclaimed work, Dracula: Lucy’s Dream, ready to serve up large-scale spectacle, human size bunraku puppets, hypnotic video projection and their signature style of imbuing the puppet with storytelling power.
In her visual adaptation of the famous myth of Dracula, Yngvild Aspeli freely draws inspiration from Bram Stoker's hypnotic tale to tell the story of Lucy. As the character fights against her inner "Dracula-esque" demon she surfaces and reveals an inclination toward domination, dependence, addiction and destructive force. A metaphor of control, both forced and desired, seductive and deceptive.
ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar
FEST ALERT: 7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival Returns January 15-26, 2025
7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival
January 15-26th, 2025
Marvel at incredible stories told through the lens of contemporary puppetry, performed by amazing puppet artists and companies from around the world!
It's time once again for one of our favorite annual fests -- The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. Here at ChiILMama.com and ChiILLiveShows.com, we've been covering Puppet Fest extensively since their inaugural year back in 2015 with dozens of features and hundreds of photos and social media posts. We've done video interviews multiple times with Puppet Fest Founder and Artistic Director, Blair Thomas, and we know quite a few of the Chicago Puppeteers. We're also always jazzed to welcome new puppeteers from around the world. Chicago is truly the multicultural puppet hub of the world, and we're so lucky to host again, this January 15-26, 2025. We're in for 12 straight days of spectacular shows, intimate works, and special events at dozens of venues all over the city.
There are edgy, adult offerings, family friendly shows, free community productions, in venues across the city. One of our favorite elements of the fest is the community. Puppet people are the best. The performers and audiences are such a unique subset of the theatre scene and we're here for it. Don't miss this! We've got highlights and favorites below, and you can follow our social media for last minute performance additions, changes, and more. Paper schedules are available at the venues and full details including video clips and ticket links are available at the official fest site at chicagopuppetfest.org. Tickets are on sale now. and we suggest you don’t wait. Despite Chicago’s cold January winters, tickets are always a hot commodity and some of the smaller venues will sell out fast!
The 2025 Chicago Puppet Fest will span 12 days and dozens of Chicago venues, presenting an international pageant of puppet artists sharing more than 120 puppetry activities!!! Get set for all-ages spectacle shows in landmark theaters, intimate works on smaller stages, and the always popular, adults-only, late night puppet cabarets.
Warm up to a wildly diverse range of classic and contemporary puppetry styles from around the world, created by puppet artists from China, India and Scotland, the first time for these countries to play a part in the Chicago Puppet Festival, along with Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Norway, Puerto Rico, Poland, South Africa, the U.S. and Chicago.
These stories and more await fans of the 7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, all told by puppet artists from around the world, showcasing different forms of traditional and contemporary puppet styles, from bunraku to shadow puppetry, marionettes to object-based works.
