Stone Oven House presents Kuthi, a striking theatrical work by the Estonian Tricktrek Theatre Project, a nomadic puppet theater that seamlessly blends traditional craftsmanship with contemporary performance. Founded in 2017 by Alexander and Serafima Andreyev, the company operates at the intersection of sculpture, mechanics, and movement, crafting immersive narratives where puppetry becomes a medium for both storytelling and kinetic spectacle.

A Living, Breathing Stage

Set in a medieval fortress teeming with intrigue, Kuthi unfolds as a wordless, highly visual performance where narrative is shaped not by dialogue, but by the interplay of bodies, objects, and the hidden machinations of the set itself. The stage is a living mechanism, built entirely of wood, its architecture shifting and realigning as the siege intensifies. Sliding walls, concealed chambers, and elaborate trapdoors transform space in real time, heightening the drama with an almost cinematic fluidity.

At the heart of the performance is the tension between the ancient raven warriors and the castle defenders—an elemental clash of power, deception, and fate. Catapults are armed, defenses are broken, and the castle itself becomes an extension of the battle, revealing secret corridors and hidden vantage points. The audience becomes complicit in the unfolding action, drawn into a choreography of shifting architecture and relentless momentum.

The Poetics of Mechanism

Tricktrek Theatre’s meticulous wooden constructions transcend mere stagecraft, operating as autonomous sculptural forms, animated by a profound understanding of physics, balance, and motion. Every structural shift is precise, every mechanical transformation deliberate, creating a performance that is as much an engineering feat as it is a theatrical event. This is puppet theater in its most radical and physical form—eschewing sentimentality in favor of movement, tension, and spatial play.

Kuthi is an experience for all ages, yet it resists categorization as purely children’s theater. Its intricate mechanics and atmospheric design evoke the haunting beauty of medieval Gothic, further underscored by a tense, percussive soundscape. It is a performance where magic is not merely suggested but physically constructed—where every turn of a wheel, every shifting plank, is part of a larger, intricate mechanism of fate.