From puppetry to physical theatre and animation, Manipulate Festival returned with another great array of visual storytelling. The festival’s 2025 edition explored themes of play and degrowth, with experimental works and those focused on the environment populating much of the programme. One such playful work was The Law Of Gravity, a collaboration between Scottish Ensemble and puppet theatre company Blind Summit which looked at the interaction between puppetry and live music. The company moved wordlessly among the musicians, using whatever they could get their hands on, from cardboard to music stands to the musicians themselves. A theme of space eventually emerged and culminated in the introduction of a life-size astronaut puppet floating in space to greet the sun. The concept is a fascinating one, and while both the music and the puppetry were enjoyable in their own right, the two never quite came together.

Much more cohesive and engaging was When Prophecy Fails, presented by Groupwork. The show used physical theatre to tell the true story of Marian Keech and The Seekers, the first known UFO cult and the case study which led to the development of cognitive dissonance theory. The information is given to the audience via audio interview clips with cult members and voice notes taken by the researchers who had infiltrated that group, with performers using the movement of their bodies to chart The Seekers’ descent into insanity. One stand-out moment was the slow-motion representation of the cult’s doomsday preparations. The characters ate cake, laughed, tripped over furniture, and partied as they anticipated the coming of the UFO and its alien leader Sananda. This clash of mundanity and absurdity was equal parts funny and disturbing.

As well as live theatrical performances, the festival also included three programmes of animated shorts. The first, On The Edge, tied in with Manipulate’s theme of degrowth and focused on climate change in Arctic locations. The shorts contained plenty of important pleas and warnings but also succeeded in communicating a deep love of the natural world and the communities who inhabit it. In addition, it was a pleasant surprise to hear the recently deceased Marianne Faithfull narrating Wild Summon (main picture) which follows the life cycle of a salmon.

The second programme, Queer Stories, had a particular focus on trans stories, a very welcome move in light of the renewed attack on trans rights. This programme featured some wonderfully creative takes on familiar queer narratives such as Coming Out which reimagines Godzilla as the parent of a baby Kaiju. When he notices that his child seems dejected, he pauses his rampage and the two have a heart-to-heart in which Baby Godzilla reveals she is trans. After this touching revelation, father and daughter get back to doing what they do best: trampling cities.

From La Fantasmagorie To The Future was the third and final programme. Tracing the history of French animation from 1908 through to today, it featured a superb range of animation styles including pin-screen, stop-motion and hand-drawn animation reminiscent of Seurat paintings. The programme also branched out to take in Francophone countries such as the Democratic Republic Of Congo, showing how French animation has been inherited and developed into something new.

While not everything landed, this year’s Manipulate was a love letter to visual storytelling and artistic experimentation backed up by action. Elevating stories from marginalised groups and setting aside funds to aid in the development of new works, Manipulate reminds us not only of the beauty of visual arts but also the necessity of ensuring they are open to all.

Manipulate ran from Wednesday 12–Saturday 15 February.