Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities: A Toy Theater Atlas
Toy Atlas Theater (Chicago, USA)
Genre: Adaptation, Puppetry, Theatre
Venue: C ARTS | C venues
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Calvino’s stunning language springs to life in a cascade of trapdoors, surprises and reveals. As Kublai Khan feels his empire eroding beneath him, Marco Polo forms the slipping sands into the cities of the emperors dreams. This adaptation in miniature casts a dreamlike spell over the audience using live projection, puppetry, paper mechanics and living sculpture as two performers manipulate tiny cameras on a small table.
Review
.Rich visuals, live narration, object puppetry and voiceovers tell this story based on the book of imagined conversations of Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. Matthew Gawryk and Dan Kerr-Hober of Toy Atlas Theater, from Chicago have lovingly created designed and perform this show with every detail of the performance well chosen and finessed. Effective selections of music accompany the imagery as our two presenters, Gawryk and Kerr-Hober open the suitcase to reveal a magical land, a land of the imagination extended from the wonderful words of the book. Gawryk and Kerr-Hober Show us city names and then show and tell us what is special about each city with authentic historic illustrations, so the descriptions are even more vivid. This history story as narrated between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan is fascinating! Not only are we hearing about several small towns ithey are being honored and remembered. They place paper objetcs showing small fold out images, it is all so very delicate and poetic. Taking pride in their work they have the utmost respect for each other, as seen when they hand each other an item taking the time to make brief eye contact.
Each section of a story is held tightly in a small tin, possibly repurposed from containing mints. At the mention of a city, such as Despina, exquisite tiny objects are unfolded and the images are enlarged by a projector on the wall behind them. Beautiful scenery and seascapes unfold to reveal their secrets and spring to life! We discover that Armilla has no walls, and Riga means dirt and has no sand. Tweezers are used to pick up time items making up the city while Khan contemplates his empire.
Gawryk and Kerr-Hober are so precise and passionate about their craft that they win us over from the start of this charming and fascinating show. This story encompasses socio political themes as well, it’s not just the pretty views! A silhouette reel of Zara, an unraveling paper street is extraordinary! We also see a miniature musical box and ladder, plus tiny figures and an beautiful tin box containing trees! they tell the story with images on their arms as well and they make themselves a cocktail from miniature liquor bottles! This is an exquisite show that is charming and one where we appreciate the artistry of Gawryk and Kerr-Hober and are entertained as well. This is a real change of pace to take during the fringe and well worth your time. Don’t miss it!
