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Theater Review: “Mr. Punch”

By David Greenwald

May 8, 2007 9:15 p.m.

“Mr. Punch”

Theatre/Theater

April 27 ““ May 27

(Out Of 5)

The works of genre-spanning author Neil Gaiman are journeys into the abyss, internal voyages that draw on dream and memory as well as the far reaches of the imagination.

The author of novels such as “American Gods” and “Stardust” and the award-winning comic book “Sandman,” Gaiman’s brand of surrealist fantasy draws from a line of writers going from Shakespeare straight through to Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison. His 1995 graphic novel “The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch,” done with longtime collaborator Dave McKean, follows a central character ““ The Boy ““ remembering a series of horrible events from his childhood as performed and mirrored by a Punch and Judy puppet show.

If nothing else, the Rogue Artists Ensemble’s adaptation of the fractured “Mr. Punch” is impressive. The play, which runs until May 27, differentiates its characters and reflects The Boy’s tumultuous journey through his own memories with sinister, ornately crafted masks and costuming. The puppets are particularly well constructed; in the tiny, 60ish-seat space of Theatre/Theater, they really come alive.

The multimedia play supports the actors with a pair of video screens showing images and dialogue from the graphic novel, as well as fresh animation work. They also help reflect the scene: While The Boy sits with The Mermaid, hearing one of her stories, the screens depict thunder and lightning as the sound of pouring rain spatters from the speakers.

The acting, too, is as smooth and creative as the play’s technical aspects as the story moves through its often confusing, disjointed scenes. Nina Silver is both sensual and motherly as a singing mermaid, and Dana Kelly plays the part of The Grandfather with lecherous charm.

Dalton O’Dell gets the show’s biggest laughs as the energetic Boy ““ when he tries to get a puppet dog to do a trick, he strikes quite the pose. But as its narrator of sorts, O’Dell is also the heart of the performance and his shy, childish demeanor gives the play a narrative thread to cling to.

It’s a thread the play needs desperately. From scene to scene, it shifts from real memories to the violent puppets of the Punch and Judy show ““ a 300-year-old puppetry tradition appropriated fittingly here ““ and beyond. In one scene, Mr. Toad and his friends from “The Wind in the Willows” appear.

The story itself, muddled as it is between fantasy and reality, is hard to follow, though it becomes clear that the murderous Mr. Punch, who kills Judy and her baby and fends off the Devil himself, is a mirror for the actions of The Boy’s grandpa.

What weakens the play are the flaws in its adaptation. Though the technical aspects of the complex show are well-coordinated and the actors perform with dark charisma, the scenes seem to drag on and the dialogue often seems meaningless.

The puppets themselves are often difficult to decipher behind their screechy voices. An imagined vignette of a life-size Mr. Punch performing surgery on his pregnant girlfriend with the assistance of the doctor, for instance, is a strange ballet that delivers surprised humor but, like several of the scenes, lasts far too long.

The scenes’ disjointed qualities make it difficult to know what’s important and what’s not, especially before the plot begins to open up after the intermission.

“Mr. Punch” is a wild ride, to be sure. The play is not one for the faint of heart (or the short of patience).

Though it’s not perfect, its ideas are intriguing, and the Ensemble’s execution of Gaiman and McKean’s story is imaginative and ambitious. As its subtitle suggests, there is both tragedy and comedy to be had here, and the play’s picture of loss of innocence, puppetry and the horrors perpetrated on children by adults is a fascinating web.

For anyone who’s ever lain in bed with the lights off and the rain pounding against the roof, counting sheep that turn into nightmarish, slapstick-armed puppets, “Mr. Punch” is well worth seeing.

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David Greenwald
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