It is a show designed for children from three to six years old and has been put on in a creative residency held at TOPIC over five weeks.

The work is made with flat puppets made of paper, except for one that is based on a ‘pen’ that writes poetry and is the one that gives the work its title. “We want to provoke in children the desire to draw, write and cut out”. They have not based the show only on words because they think “that poetry for children of this age is made up of sounds, music, songs, objects, drawings, and magic. And we put all this on the same level as the word”, explains Elena Bezanilla, artistic director of Pantzart.

Most of the poems are short and in them they have sought “simplicity, humor and also texts that inspire working with objects”, Elena points out and adds that they have come up with “a very visual spectacle”. In it appears a large notebook that belongs to a grandfather. “On each of its pages we make a small theater and dedicate it to one of the poems. Objects come off from those pages or dolls emerge, creating a story with the objects. We turn many of those stories into songs”.

The poems talk about topics related to nature. “Igerabide is a poet closely linked to nature”, says Elena. There is a part dedicated to a cloud that looks like an elephant, another to a cricket or some little birds that sit down to eat. “We have also included two short stories and two or three poems that are dedicated to grandfather, the notebook and the act of drawing and writing. To the fact that one invents poems, stories and songs oneself”. The show, which is also suitable for a family audience, lasts 35 minutes.

‘Boli bili boli’ was a project for two years and when they resumed it, they decided to propose to TOPIC to enter into the section of creative residencies that the Tolosa center maintains and through which companies and creators can have access to their facilities for several weeks, including a residence where to sleep.

“We were very lucky that they accepted our proposal”, acknowledges the artistic director of this Bilbao company. The result has been five intense weeks, over three months. “We have found ourselves in the best conditions, we have had a great space to rehearse and an unbeatable technical infrastructure. A luxury”. He also says that it has been very important “the possibility of leaving Bilbao and concentrating on the project, working eight hours a day, and living together during those five weeks. This is something priceless because it allows us complete dedication. And they have also given us the opportunity to premiere at TOPIC”.

Pantzart defines itself as “a company that develops performing activities for both children and adults”. In Basque culture Pantzart “represents a Carnival character. The festivals of madmen, jesters, “fools”, giants, dwarfs, monsters and clowns of various styles, that is, the carnival comic culture and popular laughter constitute a constant source of inspiration for our work”.