h Gay strings Master puppeteer Ronnie Burkett tells how he brought his wild cast of gay characters to life amid a turbulent year of his own By Michael Gillz Canadian artist Ronnie Burkett is trying to an swer that age old question: Was he born a pup peteer, or was it because of the environment he grew up in? "It certainly wasn't the way I was raised," he says, laugh ing. "I would be a doctor or a lawyer, some white collar guy.</p><p> I opened the World Book Encyclope dia when I was 7, it fell open to puppets, and I said, 'That's what I'll do.' It really was that easy." Now 43, Burkett is in New York, chatting be fore an evening perfor mance of Street oj Blood.</p><p> Playing at the New York Theatre Workshop , it's a featured show in the prestigious Henson In ternational Festival of Puppet Theatre.</p><p> Street oj Blood tells the sweet and some times campy story of Esme, an aging Holly wood star-turned-vam pire; Eden, a gay terror ist who blows up bars to rile his community; and Edna, Eden's mom and a self-proclaimed "silly old biddy in a Sears housedress." The New York Times said Burkett's technical skills in bringing to life 14 characters-includ ing the Turnip Comers Ladies Orches trale, Ute Haagen-Dazs and Jesus-So long, Punch and Judy Burkett believes he's the first to include gay characters in a text-based puppet show.</p><p> A prime example: Eden Urbane, who's not just gay but also a terrorist THE ADVOCATE I'" I OCTOBER 24, 2000 simply "astonishes. " The show feels so personal that-despite its fantastic elements audiences assume it's very autobiographical.</p><p> Burkett is happy to leave the question of what's real and what isn't to their imagina tion, but as he does make clear, "I will say that I've never been beaten bloody by my fa ther while ·wearing a wedding dress." You could call Street oj Blood Burkett's "current" show, but he always has so many works scheduled for performance around the world that this seems misleading.</p><p> Str'eet oj Blood, for example, is part of a trilogy that includes Tinka's New Dress and Happy (with Happy scheduled to play throughout Canada from November to April and in London next summer).</p><p> Also in prepa ration are a European performance of the trilogy; a new work tentatively titled The Madonna oj Nutter Gulch; and a one-man show without puppets called The Likes oj Me.</p><p> All of these shows have in common gay characters, something Burkett thinks was new when he first intro duced some in 1986, the year he ~ TRUOIE lEE(2) Young Eden (above, right) gets into wedding-dress drag; Mrs, Edna Rural (left), Eden's mother, with her dog, Dolly founded his own company. "To be honest with you, I'd never seen any one put a character who was gay in a text-based puppet show," says Bur kett. ''I'm not saying it hasn't been done, but I never saw it.</p><p> Chances are, it wasn't done." He pauses, thinking. "It just seemed natural.</p><p> They don't al ways have to be happy characters or successful characters because I do know that there's a prettY emotional ly stable big homo [pulling the strings] right above them." His self-confidence is hard-won: Burkett was born and raised in the Canadian province of Alberta, in a town of 25,000 where people who were different paid a price. "I was told I was a fag before I even knew what that was about," says Burkett. "It started early.</p><p> It was a dirty thing people were hostile about.</p><p> Then you figure out what it is and that you actu ally are that, and it just becomes harder. [But] puppetry really helped me because I knew I was getting out." Burkett's also getting out of Al berta: he's moving from Calgary to Toronto. "A ten-year relationship has just dissolved this year, and a new one has begun, hence the move," explains Burkett. "It's been a hell of a year." • Giltz is a regular contributor to several periodicals, including the New York Post and Entertairunent Weekly.</p><p> Ja:! Find more on Ronnie Burkett and links to related -U Internet sites at www.advocate.com
