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Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster
Critically acclaimed multimedia artists Manual Cinema (Ada/Ava, Lula del Ray, Frankenstein) return to Edinburgh from Chicago with Leonardo!, adapted from the beloved children’s books Leonardo, The Terrible Monster & Sam, The Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World by celebrated author Mo Willems.
Using live actors, 3D and paper puppets, DIY cinema, immersive sound and live music, Leonardo! tells the story of a monster who longs to be scary and the big decisions about identity and empathy that we all must make.
Underbelly Bristo Square (Cowbarn), Wednesday 3rd – Monday 29th August 2022 (not 15th) at 13:45.
Answers from Sarah Fornace (Director, Co-Artistic Director, Sam Understudy).
Gareth K Vile: I know you best for your work for adult audiences, but is there any difference in the dramaturgy for a work like Leonardo, which is aimed at younger audiences?
We really wrote the show to be enjoyed by whole families together. There are jokes for adults as well as for really little kids who can't read yet. We created a show that we would want to see, and the vibe was really inspired not only by Mo's work, but by the Jim Henson movies and Nickelodeon cartoons and Calvin and Hobbes comics that we adored as kids.
These shows/movies/books from our childhoods were zany and irreverent and smart as well as kind and heart-filled, and we really wanted to reach for that vibe. (Also, as a mother of a toddler, I wanted to make sure that the songs could be enjoyed by all ages, because I know the feeling of my son getting hooked on terrible kids’ songs like "baby shark." heh.)
I love making work for kids because they react to the show in such joyous and truthful and unfiltered ways. Manual Cinema has always shown the process of making our shows live onstage (with actors using hundreds of tiny puppets to create imagery that is projected simultaneously onto a large screen). This seemed just as if not more important in this show. We wanted to foreground the handmade-ness, because we hope it inspires kids to make their own stories with paper puppets and songs!
What is it about the source stories that inspired you to adapt them for the stage?
Mo Willems and the Kennedy Center approached us about making an adaptation of the two books. We were thrilled, because we love Mo’s work. His books are fun and insightful and have surprising moments for both kids and adults. These two books especially have such beautiful themes about empathy and friendship and making the choice to see another person and what they need.
Mo’s stories also really use the medium of the picture book: the way that the images and words relate to the physicality of the pages does a lot of storytelling. This visual storytelling gave us a jumping off point in adapting the books into larger scenes and musical sequences in the show. Also, we were just attracted to the stories of scaredy-cat kids who need friends and a resourceful monster who is terrible at what he is expected to be good at but wonderful at something unexpected of him.
Is there anything about the paper puppets that you use which lend this production a particular aesthetic or advantage in telling the story?
Yes! This is our first show with very little overhead projector shadow puppetry. When we first started working with the source texts, we realized that the material did not lend itself to cinematic shadow puppetry. The books take place in a very abstract world of matte pastel backgrounds. We love the way that this abstract world shapes the story around characters, but it doesn’t lend itself to a filmic sense of place.
Also, the faces of the characters in the books are so nuanced and convey so much information that silhouette did not seem like the right choice. This led us to two very different forms of puppetry. First, we decided to use layered paper to create paper puppets that feel like the world of the book comes to life...
We then invented a technique of using school binders with sheets of cardstock to create colorful backgrounds. This gave us the ability to do cinematic cuts and create montage and even stop motion tricks just by rapidly flipping the pages. We also decided to use hand and rod style puppets (like the Muppets) for the first time. When thinking about making a show that stars a monster and uses spoken text, we immediately gravitated towards using fuzzy monster puppets for the “live action” scenes similar to how a person would use their own bodies in live action in medium shots in our shadow shows.
The idea of 'the monster' (which is not a monster) seems to be a familiar theme in your work. Is Leonardo a typical Manual Cinema protagonist?
Ha! Yes! Great question. We do gravitate towards “monsters” and also characters who are grappling with some type of loneliness or loss. I think that Leonardo is a typical Manual Cinema protagonist in that he is resourceful and determined but struggles with his own (and society’s) expectations of who he is. We see Leonardo create a plan that treats the scaredy-cat Sam as just a foil for Leonardo’s own desires.
However, Leonardo has a turning point in which he really sees Sam as a full person and not just a scaredy cat. Leonardo has to choose whether to have empathy for Sam or to just continue on with his own attempts to be the monster that society expects him to be. And in reaching out to Sam, Leonardo finally finds the thing that he is wonderful at (even if it is not being a terrible monster).
And almost inevitably... how are you feeling about returning to the Fringe?
Incredibly excited. Edinburgh is one of my favorite places in the world. I cannot wait to climb Arthur’s Seat and have a picnic on Calton Hill and drink scotch at Bow Bar. I cannot wait to perform for Fringe audiences again. In the depths of the pandemic, I would often think about the Fringe and the joys of seeing multiple shows a day and meeting international artists in one of the best cities in the world. It will be my first time out of the country since early 2020, and I am really looking forward to it (while also planning to mitigate risk of infection as much as possible).
