When you do things wrong again and again, people will tell you that you're as stupid as a donkey.
But donkeys aren't stupid at all; it just takes them some time to figure things out. If you aren't clever, you should just become clever.
Donkey escapes from an orphanage where the food is horrible and he has to carry stones all day.
The nasty twosome Axe and Chop are hot on his heels, so Donkey travels through strange places with even stranger inhabitants.
He flies with the help of a Saw Bird and a Helicopter Chair. He puts on a pair of Naughty Shoes, is frightened by Tasman, falls of a cliff and reads a prophecy in the stars.
He is sold to a very unpleasant circus where he becomes a living cannonball and has to be sawed in half. His little life seems to be over.
Have his travels made him smart enough to solve his problems?
Smart as a donkey is an imaginative play without language but with plenty of music. The actors are found objects, broken things, and old stuff.
TAMTAM worked with writer and painter Wim Hofman , who helped with the story and drew the enchanting landscapes for the short animations that connect the scenes.
Credits
Idea, story and performance: Gérard Schiphorst, Marije van der Sande
Set design, video and music: Gérard Schiphorst
Performance support: Wim Meuwisse
Scenario support: Floor Schiphorst
Directing assistant: Lisa Schiphorst
Workshop assistant: Ruud Verkerk
Seamstress: Marije van der Sande, Harriët Ooiman, Susan Siebenga
Print design: Jean Klare , Gérard Schiphorst
Poster image: Femke Teussink
Isadora technician: Neal Lewis
Donkeys: Senger Tierpuppen
Grants by: Provincie Overijssel, Gemeente Deventer
