Paul Contryn
Paul Contryn has been associated with visual theatre and figure theatre DE MAAN all his life as a figure maker, player, illustrator and designer.
Contryn was born into a family where puppets played a central role. His grandfather, for instance, founded the Mechelen puppet theatre DE MAAN in 1940. Together with his father Louis, Paul worked on productions of 'The Jungle Book', 'Little John' and 'Pinocchio', among others, while Paul studied applied graphics at the Sint-Lukas Art School in Brussels.
After his father's retirement, Paul formed a tandem with Willem Verheyden at DE MAAN. Their interests now extended to scenography and directing. In those years, they worked together on such productions as 'In jouw schoenen', 'Kijk eens wat ik kan' and 'De gelaarsde kat'. Recent productions at DE MAAN in which he collaborated include 'Garden of the Whale', 'Petya i Volk' and 'Le Carnaval des Animaux'.
Besides DE MAAN, Paul also worked with other theatres and filmmakers, such as for Kristoff and Dimitri Leue's animated film 'ZOOks', Troubleyn's 'The Servant of Beauty' and Needcompany's 'Marketplace 76'. For television, he worked on, among others, 'Het Sportjaaroverzicht' for VRT and 'Les Poupettes' for RTL.