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Flipside 2023: Chimpanzee

You are invited to step into the enchanting world of "Chimpanzee”, a puppet play that will touch your heart. Join us as we follow the captivating journey of a chimpanzee in a biomedical facility, reflecting on the fond memories of growing up in a human home.


This play is part of Flipside 2023, a playful festival of circus, comedy, physical theatre and puppetry presented by Esplanade.

Programme Synopsis


An hour in a theatre, a day in a biomedical facility, a lifetime in the mind of a chimpanzee.


Chimpanzee is based on the stranger-than-fiction stories of chimpanzees raised as children in human homes, in a series of cross-fostering experiments conducted in the United States.


In this “deeply felt nonverbal memory play” (New York Magazine), a chimpanzee reminisces about the comfort, curiosity, and freedom she had growing up in a human family, a contrast to her bleak present-day reality in a biomedical facility.


Shifts in time and place are conveyed through exquisite, lifelike bunraku style puppetry and haunting sound and lighting design.


“To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental, about both animals and us.”

– Frans de Waal, primatologist and ethologist


Details


Play: Chimpanzee (part of Flipside 2023 festival)


Date: 27 May 2023, Saturday


Time: 3:00pm (1 hour without intermission)


Venue: Esplanade Theatre Studio


Language: Nonverbal


Advisory: Please note that the performance contains flashing lights and scenes that some people may find upsetting.

No admission once performance has begun.


Registration URL: Registration is now closed

Details will be emailed to successful participants by 19 May 2023, Friday


Tickets are generously sponsored by The Esplanade Co Ltd and limited to 20 CAL caregivers only.


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