Magic moments of seduction

The members of Cabaret Decadanse say it's hard to attract people to a puppet show.

You can get away with a lot if you're a puppet. In the case of Conrad, the lifesize transvestite from Cabaret Decadanse, he smokes and sniffs all he likes because "life is a bore".

You can get away with even more if you create the puppets' looks and personalities. The people behind Cabaret Decadanse - Serge Deslauriers, Raynald Michaud, Enock Turcotte and Anne-Marie Panneton - obviously have sexy, seductive and sensual minds. They're also a wee bit dirty. But beware - although don't be ashamed - because you might find your own mind doing things beyond your control when watching this show.

The adult puppet show has toured the world and comes to New Zealand for the first time - starting Friday, February 25, at the Concert Chamber in the Auckland Town Hall - as part of AK05.

The show features puppets like Conrad, Mauve the starlet, Kiko the Latin lover, and Lorraine the diva performing hilarious and sexy musical numbers.

"Physically, yes, we can get away with more if you're talking about suppleness because we don't have the restraint of gravity," says co-founder and puppeteer, Deslauriers. "But as far as the subject [matter] is concerned we don't go into vulgarity, so even if they could do more we don't go there.

"We never show anything, we suggest things. For us, that's the line. We suggest it's sexual but you won't see anything sexual, you'll see something sensual."

"If we feel uncomfortable with a certain gesture then people will feel uncomfortable too so we don't go there," says puppeteer Anne-Marie Panneton.

"I think it's personal taste," continues Deslauriers, "and we like to go to the limit of where vulgarity will happen between the person's ears and not on stage. If you want to go there you go there in your head."

Similar to animated movies like Shrek, the show can operate on different levels. The wonder and fantasy of the puppets intrigue children while the content, music and settings of the show adds an adult level to the goings on.

"It is a thin line but even kids can see the show and enjoy it, but we don't present it as a kids' show because the music is from the jazz repertoire and the [settings] are in clubs so that's for adult enjoyment."

Deslauriers, along with friends and fellow puppeteers Michaud and Turcotte, started Cabaret Decadanse in Montreal during 1999. They were working for another puppet company in the city and during a month off from touring they started doing their own numbers.

Deslauriers: "Looking back at it, artistically speaking, we were all at a point where we needed to take more time to work on the manipulation and take the time to understand gestures and tensions and make it more precise."

"Plus, we've got a producer, we've got money, we've got time," jokes Turcotte.

"And a lot of love and water," laughs Michaud, as they all crack up.

"Since 1999," adds Deslauriers, "we've been adding numbers and Cabaret Decadanse has been getting bigger every year."

The group combine their varying experience in fashion design, visual arts and dance, and their interest in cabaret and diverse music genres, to produce what they call a magical and entertaining show.

"I'm not putting down anything else but the way our planet is going, it's going so bad for everybody, that when you can just sit down for an hour and 10 minutes, and just be part of that magic, and that's what cabaret is about, you just don't have to concentrate or think too much or ask yourself questions, you just receive a gift.

"Just sit down and receive a gift of great songs, great dancing, great costumes, great characters. That's mainly it for me," says Deslauriers.

But they admit that it is hard to attract people to a puppet show because the misconception everyone has is Punch and Judy, or Bungle and Zippy from Rainbow or, yes, Basil Brush. Boom. Boom.

The usual response is: I can't go to a puppet show because I'm an adult. But, the group of puppeteers who describe their creations as the Formula One of puppets, say that's not true. Deslauriers says: "The puppets move so well and they're so precise that you will witness a magic moment when you forget that the manipulator is there.

"You stare at the puppets for 30 seconds and then you go, 'Oh, it's alive'.

"People react mostly to the magic. They react to the fact they are adults, sitting in front of a puppet show and they're amazed at the movement and the sensuality.

"That's what is universal about it, as well as the music.

"It's mostly about the music and the magic."

But that's not to say the puppeteer's personality doesn't come through in the puppet.

"It's the same thing as dancing, as acting, as painting, as anything in art," says Deslauriers.

"You put your soul in it," continues Turcotte, "and a few pieces of skin too."

Performance

*What: Cabaret Decadanse, adult puppet show from Montreal, Canada
*Where: Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall
*When: Friday, February 25 - Sunday, March 6
*Tickets: $35, or table for a group of six $180