Compagnie Philippe Genty's "Forget Me Not" ("Ne m'oublie pas") takes human beings and transforms them into puppets. And it takes puppets and makes them seem human. Occasionally, it combines puppets and humans until it's hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.
That's the easy part of describing this French company's latest piece. The hard part is describing the initially creepy, gradually mesmerizing and eventually moving effect this puppet-human-dance spectacle has on the viewer.
Artistic director Philippe Genty, 76, has been creating performances that combine puppets, dance and optical illusions for nearly 40 years. With his wife and longtime collaborator Mary Underwood, his Compagnie Philippe Genty has wowed audiences in France and around the world.