Dirty Duckling
FINLAND
Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done.
In 1937, when Amelia Earhart disappeared, the world was left with an enormous mystery and an even bigger Amelia-Earhart-shaped hole. “Missing Amelia Earhart” is an airy, dreamy and somewhat humoristic puppet play that follows the footsteps of the lost pilot with longing and admiration. It gives a peculiar explanation to what might have happened before and after Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937 and draws a blurred portrait of yesterday’s hero and her today’s lookalike, Merja Pöyhönen. Made of courage and dreams, “Missing Amelia Earhart” is a brave one-woman show and by stretching its own boundaries it has become one of the most sparkling examples of Finnish contemporary puppetry.
The show is full of feeling. It’s brilliant, beautiful and visionary – probably just like Amelia Earhart was. – Paljon Melua Teatterista blog
Puppet Theatre Kuuma Ankanpoikanen (Dirty Duckling) (2008-) is one of the most active and rewarded companies in the field of contemporary puppetry in Finland. The group makes shows for both adults and children, often exploring the boundaries between different art forms.
Merja Pöyhönen (b 1980) is a co-founder of Kuuma Ankanpoikanen and a frontrunner of Finnish puppetry. Her background is in puppetry and physical theatre, her style is strictly puppet-centered and she has worked as a director, an actor and a writer, altogether in about 20 shows, including most of the some-scale-success-stories of Finnish puppet theatre. Pöyhönen has been awarded by the Finnish Critics’ Association and works now as a state artist of Finland.
Amelia Earhart (24.7.1897–2.7.1937?) was an American pilot and aviation pioneer. She disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937.