Review: Tiny Ninja Theater
TheaterMania, 4/9/03
"There's something irresistibly charming about seeing Shakespeare's works performed by miniature plastic figurines."
Article: Small Actors Make Big Splash
Dramatics, 4/03
"As Yoda says, ‘You do or you do not; there is no try.’"
Review: Theatre Pick for Week of March 4
FlavorPill.net, 3/4/03
"You think you've seen every twist on The Bard’s work humanly possible..."
Article: Fringe Hit Tiny Ninja Theater Returns to NYC
Playbill Online, 2/9/03
"Trevor Bigfoot as Mercutio — whose death scene has to be seen to be believed"
Article: Best of Charleston 2003
The Charleston City Paper, 1/03
"Readers Pick for Best Piccolo Spoleto Event"
Review: Shakespeare in a Shoebox
The Washington Post, 1/11/03
"Once you've seen its Romeo & Juliet, you'll want to come to back for figurine versions of Hamlet or Othello or whatever else." — Peter Marks
Review: Action Figure Genius
The Charleston City Paper, 10/02
"Quick, clever, and chock full of surprises, more than one audience member claimed that it even outperformed the hit interpretation of the Scottish play." — Colleen Reilly
Review: Freeze Frame
Creative Loafing Charlotte, 10/2/02
"I heartily recommend being among the lucky few when Weinstein & Co. return to Charlotte or Piccolo Spoleto." — Perry Tannenbaum
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Review: Tiny Version of Macbeth is Giant Entertainment
The Charlotte Observer, 9/22/02
"Fresh, funny, ingenious and original." — JoAnn Grose
Review: Tiny Ninja Theater
Hairline, 8/02
"Four Stars: Tiny Ninja Theater is a fantastic and unorthodox show which represents what many love about the Edinburgh Festival." — Simon Ferguson
Review: Bard Takes a Flyer
Sunday Herald, 8/25/02
"Four Stars: Shakespeare is as equally at home among the ridiculous, of course." — Tim Abrahams
Review: Tiny Ninja Theater presents Macbeth
The Scotsman, 8/19/02
"Must be seen to be believed. " — Paul Rhodes
Review: Macbeth
Three Weeks, 8/17/02
"If a definition of the Fringe is originality and artistic expression, then this 35 minute abbreviated version of Macbeth, with tiny plastic ninjas as a cast, must surely rank as an ultimate example." — Paul Cochrane
Review: Mr. Smiley Face Macbeth
The Guardian, 8/10/02
"Weinstein plays it dead straight and speaks the text rather better than some classically trained actors I have heard." — Lyn Gardner
Review: Mini-Cawdor Steals Hearts
The List, 8/8/02
"a marvel of theatrical innovation" — Catherine Bromley
Review: No Drams Required
Edinburgh Guide, 8/3/02
"This is the only one I’m recommending to all my friends and the only thing I think I’ll make a return trip to!" — Annabel Ingram
Article: Ninja-cized Bard
Charleston Post & Courier, 6/1/02
Article: Tiny Ninja Theater Returns to Charleston
The State, 5/31/02
Review: Action Figure Genius
The Charleston City Paper, 5/29/02
Review: Tiny Ninjas Take On Shakespeare's Giant Roles
Charleston Post & Courier, 5/29/02
Article: Oh Tiny Romeo
The Charleston City Paper, 5/02
Article: What's The Buzz
The Charleston City Paper, 5/02
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Article: Where to Celebrate Valentine's Day Solo
Time Out New York, 2/14/02
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Review: Massaker im Spielzeugland
Taz Bremen, 1/22/02
the babelfish translation
Article: Best of Charleston 2001
The Charleston City Paper, 1/02
"Best Use of Plastic Figurines in a Performance" jump to the good bits
Article: Shakespeare de Plástico
Revista 2K, 6/22/01
the babelfish translation
Article: Piccolo's Prices Too Steep for Local Festival
The State, 6/10/01
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Article: Spoleto Festival at 25
The New York Times, 6/5/01
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Review: Tiny Ninjas Put Twist on the Bard
Charleston Post & Courier, 6/2/01
Review: Tiny Ninjas Project Big Illusion
The Charleston City Paper, 5/29/01
Review: No Small Jokes, Just Small Actors
Charleston Post & Courier, 5/29/01
Article: Immediate Art
The Charleston City Paper, 5/01
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Article: Serious Shakespeare Takes But An Inch
The Charleston City Paper, 5/01
Review: Sightlines: Tom Waits in the Toilet
The Village Voice, 4/27/01
Article: All Is But Toys
Stage Directions, 3/01
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Article: The Bard's New Band of Merry Men Perform Macbeth
American Theater, 12/00
Article: Off-Off color: Toy Story
Time Out New York, 11/9/00
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Review: Street of Blood, Tiny Ninja Theater presents Macbeth
NEXT Magazine, 9/15/00
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Article: Is That a Ninja That I See Before Me?
Playbill Online, 8/30/00
Review: Oh, Forget the Money, Let's Dress Up and Play
The New York Times, 8/26/00
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Review: Fringe Binge
Time Out New York, 8/24/00
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Review: Fringe Benefits
The Village Voice, 8/23/00
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Review: As The Bard Himself Might Put it...
newyork.citysearch.com, 8/20/00
Review: Tiny Ninja Macbeth, Finally, Little Green Man
TheaterMania.com, 8/18/00
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Article: Off-Off and Running
Time Out New York, 8/10/00
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Plastic Shakespeare
To interpret Shakespeare is not easy task for no actor. That it will say for dolls. That it will say, then, for bonequinhos of half plastic ridicule, with face of ninja, or same of the Smile, that smiling yellow head, that come back and stocking people sees being sold for there in the peddler. Therefore an American of 26 years conquered critical public and and if he prepares to exclusively gain the world with a brilliant adaptation of done Macbeth only e with these bonequinhos, equal to the ones of the poster that you see there in top. Tired of long monólogos and assemblies pseudo-intellectuals of the English author, the actor Dov Weinstein decided to radicalize. He created an assembly where the Scottish warlike ambitious person who ahead turvou its directions of the possibility to reach the power " is interpreted " by a Smile of ten centimeters of height. Its cruel wife, Lady Macbeth, also are a Smile. E all excessively the twenty " actors " of the part are bonequinhos ninja.
The result, that runs the circuit off-Broadway in New Iorque, comes being considered fabuloso, deserved compliments torn in biggest American periodicals and relieved a prize for originalidade and innovation in the Fringe, the international festival of arts of the city. " the contrast between these popular bonequinhos and the personage of Shakespeare are so great that I obtained to break the idea of that the theater of Shakespeare is made only for the elite, for the high classroom of the intellectuals. It was accurately this what I wanted ", counted Weinstein 2k.
" it does not have small papers, only small actors ". This is the motto of the Company of Small Theater of the Ninjas ( The Tiny Ninja Theater Company ), created for Weinstein to assemble its version of Macbeth. In fact, the actors of the company are so minimum that the maximum capacity of the Present Company Artspace, where the part is in poster currently, is of 20 spectators. E, still thus, sends regards the use of binoculars. In the assembly, by the way, everything is very small. The adaptation of Macbeth made for Weinstein and its dolls ninja lasts only 38 minutes. Short, innovative and brilliant, according to weekly Village Voice.
But of where appeared this so unusual idea? " I was taking a walk for New Iorque when I perceived that ninja had bonequinhos being sold for all sings it, in store and boards of periodical. These dolls in my infancy did not exist ", count the actor. As in a vision, Dov enxergou in the bonequinhos the possibility to make an assembly of Ricardo III. Immediately it bought 200 of them. It only opted to Macbeth when it discovered that the irony printed in the smile of the Smile dolls had everything to see with the history of the warrior who if found predestined to become the king of the Escócia and finished sells its prophecy if to fulfill thanks to the badness of the proper wife. " Mr. and Mrs. Smile were perfect for the history of Macbeth ", say Dov.
During the part, Weinstein practically works alone. Who is it almost controls the two hundred used dolls in scene. Aid, only of the co-producer Jonathan Van Gieson, who arranges the scene and manages the company. The techniques of Dov are almost exclusively the proper hands. Differently of that if it makes in the marionette theater, it it does not use wires, but it manipulates the dolls for backwards and under " palco ", a tablet of the size of a supper table. With the aid of imãs, it passes the printing of that its " actors " are if moving alone. While it moves its dolls, Dov recites the dialogues of Macbeth in accordance with, varying the entonação the personage. E the tricks do not stop for there. To give veracity to the war scenes, for example, Dov forms its " armies " mooring the bonequinhos ninjas ones to the others with nylon wires.
Dov attributes the success of the idea to the sap and, mainly, to the unusual one. But it also has the playful side of the experience, that fascinates the critics in such a way how much the spectators. Since the passed year, the company of the bonequinhos ninja made a total of about 100 presentations, always in small theaters of New Iorque, Atlanta and Seattle. In September, the Tiny Ninja Theater will be in a festival of theater of dolls in the Philadelphia. Unhappyly, proposals for turnês had still not appeared, what Dov waits anxiously.
Beyond Macbeth, it already it has prepared a new assembly, called Brief History D.U.M.B.O. One is not about the famous elephant of the Disney, but of a fictitious quarter. " I and ninjas are expulsos of this quarter, that is horrendo and violent ", it summarizes. The next assembly, probably, will be of the legend the Greek of Medéia. " It is a part that always I dreamed to interpret ", it says.
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