Based on traditional Zen tales, this show features monks and samurai warriors as our heroes. Each one’s body is a vegetable or a fruit that reveals its personality. The puppeteers’ moves are as steady and minimalist as a calligrapher’s stroke or a Japanese cook’s slice, as ritualistic as the art of serving tea, and as amusing and inventive as the art of the object allows!

Contes zen du potager, created in 2018 by Olivier Ducas, Karine St-Arnaud and Francis Monty, is based on traditional Zen tales. It was developed during a creative laboratory in November 2017, then presented as a work-in-progress at the Marionnettes plein la rue! Festival in Montréal and at the Micro-festival de marionnettes inachevées in Trois-Rivières. Festival de Casteliers presents its first full-length version, a delicious collection of short pieces and haikus!

Théâtre de la Pire Espèce was proud to present Zen Tales with Korean subtitles at the Chuncheon Puppet Festival.


Written by Olivier Ducas, from Zen tales

Directed by Olivier Ducas

Performed by Olivier Ducas, Karine St-Arnaud

Artistic collaboration Karine St-Arnaud et Francis Monty

Coaching Éloi Archambaudoin
Translator Bobby Theodore
Technical direction, production and stage management
Catherine Le Gall-Marchand
With objects from du Temps des cigales
Production Théâtre de la Pire Espèce