Hand Shadow Artist
Drew Colby takes you on a cinematic journey of shadows as he tells the tale of how he came to be doing this unusual job, why some people call the artform “Cinema in Silhouette” and where it all began millenia ago. Expect rabbits doing what rabbits do, famous extra-terrestrials from the silver screen and many more endearing and astonishing characters all made with just a light, two hands and a screen before a show-stopping shadow duet rounds off this virtuoso performance. Suitable for an adult audience.
"Colby is not limited to a virtuosic exercise of style, to a show of manual elasticity, projecting on the canvas the classics, static contours of animals or architectural monuments, but gives life to real sequences, such as the spectacular race of the rabbit chased by the wolf – which creates the illusion of a real montage – or the phenomenal duet with Frank Sinatra." - Andrea Grassano, KLPTeatro, Italy
“To do what you did, you have to have a talent. To do it the way you did it, you have to be a super talent.” – Thomas Gottschalk, judge on Das Supertalent
"Drew Colby's hand shadowography was entrancing and like nothing I’ve seen before. It had me watching with true awe. On stage his personality truly shined through, allowing me to relax and be amazed. It was especially fun to play 'guess the film' as Drew took the audience through some familiar hollywood favourites. The winner had the chance to go on stage and learn some “hand-ography” themselves- definitely making me realise it's much harder than it looks." - Alicia Britt, Animations Online, 5th December 2017
My Shadow and Me is like a cartoon created live out of nothing but darkness and light. One person and his shadow meet and go on an incredible, imaginative, shadowy journey where creatures emerge, engage and transform beautifully. The show uses minimal language in combination with unusual interpretations of classical music and non-verbal voice effects. Little encounters between characters are explored and tiny stories unfold. Many are funny, some are sweet. The ever fascinating and adorable hand shadow bunny makes an appearance as part of a simple magic trick, and the show ends with a colourful and impressive finale in which multiple shadow characters appear all at the same time – made with just two hands!! This was the third production commissioned by Junction, Goole, with funding from the Arts Council England. The production focuses on the idea of our shadows and our relationship with them, inspired by the poem “My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stevenson. It had its first performance in September 2017 at Junction in Goole. Since that time it has been to Turkey, India, Switzerland, Chile, Portugal, Malaysia, Italy, Russia, South Korea, Hungary and Albania.
Winner of the Moving Parts Festival Audience Choice Award 2019
Commissioned by Junction, Goole and supported by the Arts Council England.
“A bare stage with a small light projecting onto a large blank screen. The audience of young children and their parents sits in anticipation as a lanky young man in a trilby crosses the stage, smiles and the lights go down. This time, as he crosses in front of the light, his shadow appears behind him. Cue a lovely pantomime-like sequence in which we see his shadow but he doesn’t: “it’s behind you!” squeaks an excited little voice from the audience. And then the magic begins.” - Pamela Hall, The Croydon Citizen
What would you sing about if you had to sing a song? Imagine if you met a singing fox – what would she sing about? Maybe about something to eat – some kind of bird, perhaps? What would a fisherman sing about?
In the Fox Poet and the fisherman a fisherman meets a singing fox on the shore of a lake – but the fisherman quickly notices that all of the fox’s songs are about birds. The fox tells the fisherman to sing, then points out that all of the fisherman’s songs are about fish. Maybe we only sing about what we know – so the fox and the fisherman try to sing songs about their dreams and things they've never seen before.
The performance is centred around two song cycles (Histoires Naturelles by Ravel and Le Bestiaire au Cortège d’Orphée by Poulenc) with additional piano music by Erik Satie, including his popular Gymnopédie No. 1. The songs are sung in a new English translation by Jeremy Sams.
Come and meet Don Pedro Alfaroubeira and his caravan of dromedaries, the proud peacock whose wedding day keeps being postponed, the graceful swan who is trying to catch the clouds on the surface of the river and the grumpy Guinea fowl who wants to chase everyone away.
Captivating hand shadows and a newly devised narration link these beautiful, comical songs together into a magical, visual feast.
