Merlin Puppet Theatre puts on stage a significant experience of watching theater for adults in the form of a puppet children’s toy.
The Theater Times
What makes their performances so special is the power to reflect the perceptions of a certain one identity in a true symphony of sensations rendered by the animation language.
B-Critic Magazine (Romania)
A performance by Merlin Puppet Theater is enough to convince you that puppetry is not just for children
VICE
“Clowns Houses” has made countless appearances at festivals around the world, and made the Merlin Puppet Theater known for its black humor, detailed puppet art and a unique style of masterly play.
Leipziger Zeitung (Germany)
A masterful communication between puppets and spectators. An excellent work, with an exquisite work of animation and the design of puppetry. Those of us who were able to enter the scenic pact all left amazed. A bold pact with the most demanding viewer.
Leonardo Estrada / La Jiribilla Magazine (Cuba)
Impressive visual force. Five unique acts that introduce into a sick contemporary world made of solitude and claustrophobia that seems to plunge the spectators into deformed universes and at the limit like “Trainspotting” by Dannys Boyle.
Walter Porcedda / Gli Stati Generali (Italy)
“Clowns Houses” is a black comedy similar to Topor’s macabre pieces, or the movie “Delikatessen” with puppets perfectly animated by the founders of Merlin Puppet Theatre.
Arkadiusz Stern//Teatr dla Was Magazine (Poland)
The grave voice of an invisble speaker introduces each act with an english prologue, as if by Shakespeare. What follows may not have the power of royal drama, but the the madness of a Learian frenzy. Especially through the contrast between the static facial expression of the puppets and the turbulent soundssphere the Merlin Puppet Theatre sparks its light.
Reinhard Kalb / Nord Bayern Newspaper (Germany)
Black humor and detailed refinement and a manifest will to create a world of their own, determined by the obsessions and ideas of Demy Papada and Dimitris Stamou, possessed by a very high degree of self-demand … A work that has already received some awards and which we will hear about. In the near future..
Toni Rumbau / Titeresante Magazine (Spain)
A pair of actors, puppets and marionettes in a fantastic game. This play impressed me with its visuality.
Ilona Słojewska / e-Teatr (Poland)
Brilliantly choreographed spectacle with the minimum of expressive means. The crowd shouted “Bravo” …. I think you will agree that such a restrained from Finnish audience, even given the preponderance of Russian mentality is a success.
Svetlana Loginova / Vyboer press (Rusia)
I admit frankly that put me in an embarrassing and think: what is the meaning of the concept of representation, which is unreal drama of life? Maybe that’s the one that introduced the incredible tension that has remained with me long after the show.
Magdalena Blanket//Teatr dla Was(Poland)
The name of the company is worth a note, if you planning a trip to the European capital of culture.
Matti Saarele (Finland)
The skilled puppeteers, the successful set design and the details of expressions of the puppets, reflect the fantastic world of different characters in the same apartment building.
Υeni Asir (Turkey)
Dimitris Stamou and Demy Papada create a dark and gloomy atmosphere with grotesque puppets, shadows and objects reflecting in a very refined way the prevailing pessimism of the days.
Delo Press (Slovenia)
Hailing from Athens, the show in question, named after and framed by an Edith Sitwell poem, consists of five stories about anxieties of modern life – including loneliness, greed and despair – which often culminate in some form of a violent ending. Without much prompting, the jury understood that the show offered hope in the form of engendering the responsibility for a better life with the audience.
Exeunt Magazine (London,UK)