Humanity is facing extinction, and Penny Plain, elderly and blind, can only sit and wait for the end. After a heartbreaking farewell from her dog, Geoffrey, who leaves to live as a man, Penny faces the inevitable by herself. But she isn't alone for long as a cast of characters, including a serial killer, a cross-dressing banker, and talking dogs barge into her boarding house in pursuit of last chances and an escape from the hostile world outside. With this steady invasion, Penny bears witness to the funny and chilling consequences as mother earth cleans house and reclaims her ground.
Ronnie Burkett has been captivated by puppetry since the age of seven, when he opened the World Book Encyclopedia to "Puppets." He began touring his puppet shows at the age of fourteen and has been on the road ever since. Ronnie has received numerous awards in Canadian theatre as a playwright, actor, and designer for his work with Theatre of Marionettes, including the Herbert Whittaker Drama Bench Award for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian Theatre, and international recognition including a Village Voice OBIE Award in New York for Off Broadway Theatre. From his peers, Ronnie has received three Citations for Excellence in the Art of Puppetry from The American Center of the Union Internationale de la Marionnette and the President's Award from The Puppeteers of America. Recognized as one of the world's foremost theatre artists, his work has created an unprecedented adult audience for puppet theatre, and continuously plays to great critical and public acclaim in Canada, the U.K., Australia, Germany, Austria, Sweden, and elsewhere. Ronnie is the 2009 recipient of the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. When not wiggling dollies in front of strangers, Ronnie lives in Toronto.
"Masterfully, insightfully and gently told… there is intelligence, creativity, poetry and artistry here of the highest caliber. Burkett is, quite plainly, a Canadian treasure."
"In Penny Plain, by the brilliant Ronnie Burkett, the slam of emotion these little wooden puppets evoke will surprise you."