Creature Encounter were selected to perform our walkabout act Squawk! and our family show Epico the Dragon, at the International Street Theatre Showcase, City of Wings in Ypres, Belgium. Over 60 groups from across Europe descended on the historic town to perform before the public and over 100 delegates and European Street festival promoters. We were the only puppet company in attendance among a host of aerialists, clowns, equilibrists, acrobats and roving eccentrica.
The Squawk birds were created with an international audience in mind, and their antics played well with the crowd performing in the universal language of bird song. They nuzzled the children, danced, clucked and squawked with the adults, posed for photos and even got hand bagged by a granny!
Post performing in Indonesia and Kuwait Epico is starting to feel quite at home in front of an international audience. Each time the show adapts and new elements are discovered, this time the dynamic changed as we used adults as volunteers instead of children. We lost the cuteness of seeing a timid child approach the beast, but found the joy in getting a grown man to act and play like a child on stage.
After two days of performance we hope our efforts will be rewarded, with further invitations to pack Epico and Squawk into their crates and travel to the continent.