Photo by Sean Williams, 2005 production.

Why don’t ALL puppeteers wear monocles and do acrobatics while performing? That was my first thought while watching Redmoon Theater’s latest marvel, The Cabinet. As the show begins, the audience is faced with a wall sized wooden cabinet, its face riddled with oddly shaped drawers and compartments. Suddenly, a door slams open and gloved hands slide a gramophone out from behind a curtain. More doors open to reveal a darkened stage. Then, as if through the hissing and static of an ancient recording, the voice of the protagonist begins to tell his tale, the story of an unwittingly murderous somnambulist.

Photo by Ryan Bourque, 2010 production.

Coilhouse being what it is, I have the feeling that at least a few of you are already familiar with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the 1919 silent film that inspired Redmoon’s production. It is a story with as many layers as a matryoshka doll, but on the surface, it tells the tale of a hapless somnambulist (Cesare) who falls into the clutches of a nefarious doctor (Dr. Caligari) who uses the young man as a pawn in his murderous schemes. Ultimately, we discover that the story we have just been told was the delusion of a man in an asylum, trapped within his own mind– a dream within a dream.

Photo by Sean Williams, 2005 production.

The characters are played by exquisite glass-eyed puppets, manipulated by intricately costumed puppeteers. The interplay between these puppets and their puppeteers is riveting, bringing to mind a scene from my favorite film, Santa Sangre, where a son performs a duet with his armless mother, acting as her hands. There’s a sense of charged symbiosis, with the performers moving in measured, clockwork rhythms, like antique automatons. They watch their puppets raptly, sometimes standing alongside them, sometimes hanging upside down, sometimes nearly out of sight. Gloved hands appear from around the edges of the stage; when a weapon appears, it is held out to the puppet with a long-handled silver hemostat. When there is a death, they unspool red ribbons of blood.

Photo by Ryan Bourque, 2010 production.

Setting the stages within the various chambers of the cabinet creates a sense of dreamlike dislocation. The off-kilter geometry of the sets and backdrops accentuates this impression, as does the use of pop-up books and shadow puppet projections. Mysterious and lyrical, this is the sort of performance that one would notice something new with each viewing. For those of you near Chicago, this is a ravishing treat, absolutely not to be missed! The show runs until March 7, 2010. For more information, visit Redmoon.org, and watch the trailer here.

Photo by Sean Williams, 2005 production.

Posted by Guest Blogger: Jessica Joslin on February 12th, 2010
Filed under Art, Events, Fairy Tales, Puppetry, Theatre