If you accept an invitation to The Glowing Pickle Bar, you and nine other spectators will find yourselves inside a miniature bar for six minutes. At first glance, it seems like an ordinary, almost dull, day for the regulars. The peaceful atmosphere is disrupted by the unexpected creak of a door and the arrival of a stranger who turns the entire place upside down, showing both the locals and the audience the bar from a completely new perspective.
The creators from the Dutch collective Electric Circus combine puppetry with electromechanics and technological innovation. The performance takes place without the physical presence of the puppeteers, nevertheless, all animation happens live—without screens or projections, using only motors, electronics, and programming. This is accompanied by sounds generated right on the spot without additional effects.
As a result, you become part of an animated cartoon that operates not on the principle of stop-motion, but live-motion. Around the miniature theater, you can further immerse yourself in the atmosphere thanks to additional automata and kinetic objects by Electric Circus.
“The Dutch company Electric Circus returns to the Regions festival for the second time. Audiences may remember them from their outdoor installation Headspaces. Their work is rooted in experimentation, the blending of disciplines, and a playful search for new forms. This spirit of inquisitive curiosity, innovation, and dry humour is equally present in The Glowing Pickle Bar, which offers a refreshing moment of pause with mechanical puppets amid the bustle of the festival. The project fits perfectly into the open-air setting in front of Drak, where we seek precisely such understated yet surprising formats. Together with the production BRASS, Electric Circus provides audiences with a distinctive insight into contemporary Dutch theatre culture.” Tomáš Jarkovský, member of the Dramaturgical Board
The creators from the Dutch collective Electric Circus combine puppetry with electromechanics and technological innovation. The performance takes place without the physical presence of the puppeteers, nevertheless, all animation happens live—without screens or projections, using only motors, electronics, and programming. This is accompanied by sounds generated right on the spot without additional effects.
As a result, you become part of an animated cartoon that operates not on the principle of stop-motion, but live-motion. Around the miniature theater, you can further immerse yourself in the atmosphere thanks to additional automata and kinetic objects by Electric Circus.
“The Dutch company Electric Circus returns to the Regions festival for the second time. Audiences may remember them from their outdoor installation Headspaces. Their work is rooted in experimentation, the blending of disciplines, and a playful search for new forms. This spirit of inquisitive curiosity, innovation, and dry humour is equally present in The Glowing Pickle Bar, which offers a refreshing moment of pause with mechanical puppets amid the bustle of the festival. The project fits perfectly into the open-air setting in front of Drak, where we seek precisely such understated yet surprising formats. Together with the production BRASS, Electric Circus provides audiences with a distinctive insight into contemporary Dutch theatre culture.” Tomáš Jarkovský, member of the Dramaturgical Board
Authors: Fred Abels, Mirjam Langemeijer
Directed by: Fred Abels, Mirjam Langemeijer
Concept and Construction: Fred Abels, Mirjam Langemeijer
Software: Rolf Meesters
Set design: Victor van der Meiden
Costumes: Roos Matla
Directed by: Fred Abels, Mirjam Langemeijer
Concept and Construction: Fred Abels, Mirjam Langemeijer
Software: Rolf Meesters
Set design: Victor van der Meiden
Costumes: Roos Matla
