File puptcrit/puptcrit.1001, message 491


From: Eileen Blumenthal <eileenblumenthal-AT-earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:30:40 -0500
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] "Jerk" (re:Bad Notice of Puppet Show)


This response is a couple of weeks late following up on the thread  
"Bad Notice of Puppet Show" --but--

I saw the show, Jerk. It was profoundly disturbing and, yes,  
unpleasant--but  brilliant.

The puppeteer, seated on a simple wood chair,  plays the narrator who  
recalls and animates  a series of atrocities in which he  
participated. He manipulates, speaks for and interacts with hand  
puppets, which play the other characters. It is not only an  
extraordinary acting performance, including interactions with the  
hand puppets, but it succeeds in drawing  viewers into a place  
reeking with grusome torture,  necrophilia, demented power games, and  
surprisingly graphic-seeming sex (you never actually see any human or  
puppet geniatlia). Live actors could not have taken you there. You  
would have turned yourself off--stopped being receptive and maybe  
walked out--long before you reached the heart of the darkness.   The  
puppets delude you into feeling a safe distance from the sickness,  
until it's too late. You're there.

It reminded me of some Mishima's work in that it drew me inside an  
experience I'd never even been close to feeling or understanding.

Jerk was not fun to watch. But I was stunned by it. I will never  
forget it.   And, in a way, I did enjoy it, because seeing that kind  
of transformative artistry is--well, isn't that what art is all about?

Eileen

BTW, Under the Radar  also included a delightful  piece called "Space  
Panorama."  Andrew Dawson recreates the Apollo moon landing, using  
just his hands on a black table. You follow him perfectly as he  
changes scale and perspective. Just magical.


On Jan 13, 2010, at 4:11 PM, widerman-AT-aol.com wrote:

> Rarely have I seen such a scathing review as this one of a puppet  
> show that
>  appeared in today's New York Times.
>
> _http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/theater/reviews/13jerk.html? 
> scp=2&sq> puppet&st=nyt_
> (http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/theater/reviews/13jerk.html? 
> scp=2&sq=puppet&st=nyt)
>
>      -Steven->
> _______________________________________________
> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
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