Stickman is a minimalist mind-bender, a philosophical circus and a delightful disruption of what we expect from puppetry, circus and storytelling. A performance that features: a man, a stick and a television.

A man balances the stick on various, and sometimes awkward, parts of his body thereby setting himself and the stick in motion. He moves, the stick follows. Or does it lead?

A television screen offers constant commentary, labeling each act, and reframing everything we see. The TV dictates the narrative. The man and the stick obey—or do they?

„Stickman“ is a witty and disarming exploration of agency, interpretation and the shifting nature of control. ​ “Mesmerising, clear, intricate and spectacular.” PLAY Festival

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Director and performer Darragh McLoughlin has had a career as a juggler. He has no background in puppetry, but was discovered by the world a few years ago and has been touring Europe ever since.

Squarehead Productions was founded by Darragh McLoughlin and Elena Kreusch in 2012 as a platform to support artistic research and performance, and as a space for collaboration with other artists from all fields. Darragh is a conceptual artist with roots in contemporary circus. His physical practice focuses on various movement techniques and research with objects. The body remains the central subject/object of all his work. He spends a large part of his time learning very specific non-functional skills that most other people would not think of or bother to practice. His work appears in many different formats and can be seen as live performances, performance lectures, video installations and visual works. His creative methodology focuses strongly on dramaturgy and the role of the audience in the context of performance.