Five events to book now for manipulate Visual Theatre Festival

• Rowena McIntosh
• 20 January 2017

Coulrophobia

Including clowns trapped in a cardboard world and a woman searching the dark web for someone to eat her

One of the first festivals to grace the 2017 calendar, manipulate offers a showcase of visual theatre and animation. Local visual artists are joined by practitioners from across the world in a programme that features shows with 800 plus performances under their belts and works falling under an audience's eye for the first time. Here we round up just five of the shows to book for the festival, which takes place in Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre and Aberdeen's Lemon Tree, as well as various offshoot venues across the UK.

Eat Me
This image-based theatre piece explores the consumption of female bodies in everyday society and the darker nature of sexual gratification as a woman uses the dark web to find someone willing to eat her.
Traverse Theatre, Sat 28 Jan

Cloth
Tiffany Soirat, winner of the Edinburgh Student Arts Festival: 2016 Best Performer Award presents her first solo show. Created in her bedroom, classic student, the piece explores the intimacy and vulnerability of our beds, examining a woman's dreams, relationships and her most private of selves.
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 28 Jan; Tobacco Factory, Bristol, Thu 2 Feb

Poli Degaine
La Pendue present the story of the oldest, and most famous, puppet in the world. He goes by many names and embodies many contradictions: naive and tricky, fearful and brave, rascal and philosopher. La Pendue's anarchic, contemporary version of this character's 400 year old story has been performed over 800 times in more than 30 countries since its premiere nine years ago.
The Lemon Tree. Aberdeen, Sat 28 Jan, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Mon 30 Jan

Coulrophobia
Coulrophobia is a ridiculous, slapstick and occasionally terrifying quest for freedom about two clowns stuck in a cardboard world. Pickled Image specialises in puppetry for live performance and strive to stretch audiences' preconceptions about puppetry. The show promises 'disappointing nudity, strong language and A LOT of cardboard', unlike most other puppet-based performance.
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 4 Feb

Oog
Glasgow-based artist Al Seed performs Oog, an intensely physical exploration of the trauma of conflict and the psychological damage it inflicts. The war is over but a shell-shocked soldier remains in a locked cellar. Oog features Guy Veale's powerful soundtrack and won a Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2015.
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 4 Feb

Manipulate Visual Theatre Festival, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh & The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, Fri 27 Jan--Sun 5 Feb.