Vision Mechanics STORM the Giant Puppet

Walkthrough of the production at Vision Mechanics’ workshop space

Minnie Rubinski is a woman with strong opinions. In 1950s America, she forged her own path, breaking social boundaries, and now recalls her Fantastic Life – but what is real and what is fantasy..?  And does it really matter?

Five people at a time, at 30 minute intervals, enter into an incredible world.

In the centre of the room a giant brain pulses. Wander though this organic landscape of trailing synapses and connect together Minnie’s  fragmented memories to discover her true and fantastic life.

This unique production involves filmed memories using a cast of beautifully carved marionettes, placed in perfectly detailed period sets.

It is a deeply meaningful piece created during the pandemic and inspired by Kim Bergsagel’s (Creative Director) experience of her mother’s rapid onset of dementia. Adapted from fragments of phone calls and family anecdotes, this story is funny, sad and nonsensical.

The Scotsman

5 STARS………..it’s perhaps the rich detail of that real-life origin that makes the Fantastic Life Of Minnie Rubinski such an outstanding piece of work; full of love for an astonishing woman, and profound recognition of all that this generation of elders have known and been, in their long lifetimes.

FULL REVIEW
https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/theatre-reviews-love-beyond-poor-thing-the-fantastic-life-of-minnie-rubinski-4025784

Bouquets & Brickbats

4.4 STARS…….The characters are puppets, moving around custom-built sets, which are presented in intricate detail – check out the sequence in a 1950s supermarket and take a close look at the hundreds of items ranged on the shelves. The attention to detail is astonishing!

FULL REVIEW
https://bouquetsbrickbatsreviews.com/2023/02/10/the-fantastic-life-of-minnie-rubinski

Corr Blimey

5 STARS .A journalist, mother, gallery owner, wife, writer, child, and saviour of the world from giant reptiles – there’s a lot to take in during The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski, which translates the words and thoughts of one woman’s life, now living with dementia, and turn these glinting pieces of their personality into a scale-filmed legacy, utilising puppetry to craft an often surreal, though occasional mundane and domestic, world for audiences to walk-through….

FULL REVIEW
https://corrblimey.uk/2023/02/14/the-fantastic-life-of-minnie-rubinksi-fruitmarket

Radio Summerhall Arts

Edinburgh based Vision Mechanics, Symon Macintyre and Kim Bergsagel, have married their not inconsiderable imaginative powers with yet another style in their latest work, The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski…..

FULL REVIEW
https://radiosummerhallarts.com/2023/02/13/the-fantastic-life-of-minnie-rubinski

Programmers interested in booking The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski, please contact Symon Macintyre, symon@visionmechanics.org  or Anne Fleming, anne@visionmechanics.org

Technical Requirements

– A space of at least 8 x 7 meters
– Access to four power points
– The Company can bring all the technical equipment necessary for the production
– Get-in time is 8 hours
– Get-out time is 5 hours
– The Company has a team of 3 travelling with the production
– The Company will require the assistance of one venue technician for the get-in and the get-
out

The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski has been made possible through the generous support of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund: Sustaining Creative Development.

When creating The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski Vision Mechanics was able to offer three month long paid traineeships in marionette puppetry, set design, making and filming, to 4 emerging artists. This initiative was kindly supported by

The William Syson Foundation
The Golsoncott Foundation
The Leche Trust
Hugh Fraser Foundation