A puppetry and live performance production of a man and his dog, deep love and the art their friendship inspired will debut at Wodonga’s Butter Factory Theatre on Wednesday.
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Overseen by HotHouse Theatre, Picasso and His Dog is inspired by the relationship the artist Pablo Picasso had with his sausage dog, Lump.
Lump, meaning rascal in German, ended up featuring in 50 of Picasso’s paintings and in many respects became his muse.
Writer and director Sarah Kriegler told The Border Mail she’s drawn to the intense relationship they shared.
“Picasso seemed to enjoy that the dog treated him as a man, rather than the greatest artist of the 20th century,” she says.
“He would’ve had a lot of people fawning over him, whereas the dog would’ve perceived him as a human.
“I think that’s what our animal friends to do us – they don’t judge us on our wealth or our talents – I think that Picasso was really amused by that.”
The play’s plot documents the arrival of Lump at Picasso’s house and their subsequent life together, right up until when they died within a few days of each other in 1973.
Kriegler, who worked on the film Where the Whild Things Are, stumbled upon photographs of the pair by David Douglas Duncan, who spent time with Picasso and was Lump’s original owner.
“A few years ago, The Age newspaper published some of these photos,” she says.
“It just sparked a whole bunch of thoughts and stories around the animals that I’d known in my life.”
“Sometimes we have such a deep connection to animals that we don’t recover from the loss of them.”
HotHouse Theatre artistic director Lyn Wallis says Lump’s movement is just like watching a real dog.
“The artistry of the puppet builder and puppeteers is outstanding,” she says.
Kriegler’s interest in the medium stems back to when she returned from an overseas trip as a student, unsure what to do with her life.
“The stories that I want to tell can’t be told with humans alone,” she says.
“I’d done ballet and theatre for a long time, but hadn’t necessarily found my place in life.
“I realised all those things that I was interested in came together in the form of puppetry.”
Wallis says the show is well suited for young children and animal lovers.
To book tickets and view show dates, visit hothousetheatre.com.au or phone (02) 6021 7433.
