Wednesday's Performances

Coming soon! My impressions of Little Inch Boy, The Temptation of St Francis, Brother Coyote and Sister Fox, Ichthyodyssey and the Puppet Cabaret. But I'm jet lagged and exhausted so I'm going to bed now.

Update 7/15 1pm: Little Inch Boy was a rather interesting interpretation of the Japanese tale Issunboshi written by a 16 year old boy. It was dramatically Americanized…much more than my version. I loved the oni—its chest opened and there were strings, a heart and intestine on a mini-stage. It was very creative. The marriage at the end was tossed in there as a period mark, but then I have no better way to do that either. The princess in particular was very Americanized but Issun matched her in the end with saying “cool” and “high five”. More fun than respectful…but I bet the school audiences love it.

Update 7/15 7:30 pm:
The Temptation of St. Anthony by Hobgoblin Puppets was up to Hobgoblin’s usual standards well known to me from watching three of their shows in Spokane. As usual, when they stick to rhymes and historical facts—they are very entertaining. It was good enough to keep me in my seat, awake and entertained.

I was so pleased to finally see the Thistle Theatre show where the chickens we used in Puppets, Puppets, Puppets a Variety Show: Brother Coyote and Sister Fox. It was definitely up to Jean Enticknap’s high standards. If she could have been here, she would’ve been very pleased with her performers but not so pleased with the professional house she counted on. They missed two sound cues and a one point the chickens had to squawk, “Sound Cue”. That got a laugh and also seemed to wake the stage crew. Other than that, the show went perfectly as far as I could see. Gina informed me that it was not perfectly done, and that was news to me. I must also report that a chicken squawked “sound cue” has lived on in the late evening ribbing. Imitation, I assure you, is flattery here.

Ichthyodyssey had a scene that was exceptional…a giant angler fish scene done in the dark, lit by only the bioluminescent light of the angler fish. All the puppets looked great in that scene and you could not see the puppeteers at all and all th voices and movement was well done. The rest was okay but I had a hard time fighting my jet lag. Great voices on the performers though.

The Cabaret was the first of three late night events of the festival. The items in this show were vetted and invited to perform. The difference between this night and the Puppet Slam night was these items were directly submitted by people who wished to perform at the festival. The Puppet Slam pieces, on the other hand, were nominated pieces by different Puppet slam groups around the nation. The best performances were invited to come and given a travel allowance for it. The most memorable one was a Panada show—Spencer, who is the leader of the Green Badges, performed it. He had the best facial expressions ever! The evilest one was the ending one…not for the mature content but rather for getting a song stuck in my head: “Two Ladies” from Cabaret the musical.