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Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
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Puppets & Dracula |
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| Puppets & Dracula | ||
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by Miryam Gordon - SGN A&E Writer Dracula: A Case Study directed by Brian Kooser Monkey Wrench Puppet Lab at Theatre Off Jackson through November 3, 2007 Puppeteering is a unique art. It is hard to do well and the puppeteers of Monkey Wrench Puppet Lab are great manipulators. The puppets used in this production are beautifully wrought, with great detail. Brian Kooser has written and directed a Halloween-timed play revolving around Dracula. The premise is that people confined in a sanatorium have been getting well by playing with therapeutic devices, or puppets. We, the audience, have been invited to witness a possible breakthrough. Dr. John Seward (David Goldstein) introduces us to the patients, who have been traumatized through their interactions with Dracula. Mina (Holly Chernobyl) has had her best friend turn into a vampiress and has been seduced by Dracula and thinks he's a nice man. Dr. Van Helsing (Gavin Cummins) has yet to process his experience with tearing apart the vampiress in order to save her from an eternity of damnation. The mixing of the puppetry as therapy is an interesting way to tell the story. There are amusing moments. Sometimes, it takes too long to move the story along. The elaborateness can overwhelm the story as devices or props need setting up. The set is well designed by Brian Kooser and costumes are nicely done by Deborah Skorstad, reminiscent of the late 1800s. Some of the funniest moments involve a moving backdrop denoting travel, also providing some shadow puppetry of flying bats. The performance is oddly accompanied with live music on stage in the form of a musical group named Ensemble Sub Masa. They play vaguely Eastern European music throughout, also providing strange songs. They seem to be quite good musicians, but aren't quite allowed to show real accomplishment, because they're crazy, I guess. So, their inclusion also tends to slow things down, at times. The production is tame enough for children, although directed at adults, so this might make an interesting Halloween treat for 9 or 10 year olds up, demonstrating how puppetry can be used to tell a story. If they had the opportunity to tighten the script and if Dr. Seward would do less yelling of lines, it might be more fun and less tiresome. However, the beauty of the puppetry makes this a worthwhile show. For more information, go to www.monkeywrenchpuppetlab.org or call (206) 240-9667. Comments on reviews go to sgncritic@gmail.com. |
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