For the most part, I approach puppet performances with little foreknowledge of the event. Puppet shows are short, and most genres work for me, so in I dive.
Bread and Puppet Theater’s presentation of The Persians by Aeschylus; a Greek tragedy puppet performance—what’s not to like? There was much to like and some not to like. For me, the not to like was the tragic vehicle. It’s a simple story. The tiny Greek city-states come together and defeat the mighty Persians, who are invading from the east. A remarkable victory. The Greeks commission Aeschylus to write a play memorializing the victory. What Aeschylus writes is a damnation of war and a memorial of the dead Persians.
Bread and Puppet’s interpretation of The Persians goes,
“Right now civilisation is busy redefining its essentials…..& we puppeteers, proud non-essentialists, are busy figuring out our next attack on that civilisation as well as the bread & butter issues of our trade. The obvious lack of appropriate funeralisation for the victims of Mother Earth’s furious revenge on our ill-behaved species requires combined insurrection & resurrection services…”
There we have it: protest puppet theater—protesting not only war but all the evils that humanity has done to Mother Earth.
I did not know entering the doors of the Epiphany Center for the Arts (more about this below) that Bread and Puppets is a renowned group from Vermont that specializes in protest through puppets and imagery. They use large artforms: banners, masks, hoods, oversized faces, and bodies. The style is grotesque, exaggerated; the colors muted. What happens on stage is amazing. They have been involved in protest movements since beginning on the lower East side of New York in 1965. (Not knowing where Bread and Puppet Theater originated, I mentioned in passing to my companion that we could have paid $4,000 for a trip to New York’s lower East-side to see this avant-garde performance, and still been disappointed.)
Photo credit: Chicago International Puppet Festival
There are about 35 performers who fill multiple roles. Half of them were volunteer performers from Chicago, half from the Company that is now resident in Vermont. When we entered, they were gathered into a musical group playing fun, jazzy tunes. Five remained in the musical ensemble, most went behind stage to assume different roles as life-size cutout puppets, moderators, and banner carriers. Throughout, the choreography was exemplary. There is continuous movement of banners, puppets, and singers. It flows, our eyes searching for new visions to appear.
The story is told mostly by the banners, with some spoken entre-act breaks. The music was amazing, radical, and on-target to the story. The tenor and countertenor duets were ethereal and mournful.
We were fortunate to have this production for the Puppet Fest. It is not a production that travels easily—lots of people and accouterments. It wore the cloak of spectacle. But, the message was too heavy; the performance too long. Maybe like the reactions of the Greeks to Aeschylus’s original play.
This video is the entire performance. If you just move the timeline stopping at every 8 minutes or so, you will get an excellent overview. The performance is 1 hour, 20 minutes.
ABOUT EPIPHANY CENTER FOR THE ARTS – a great new venue at 201 South Ashland Avenue
Conceived with the vision to return Epiphany to a place for people to once again congregate in, the shuttered, historic Church of the Epiphany (Episcopal, deconsecrated) has been preserved and adapted into an iconic cultural hub ‘For the Good of Art, Entertainment and Events’. Thoughtfully designed, the exemplary 42,000 square foot campus boasts three distinct venues and a stunning array of amenities, including art studios, classroom, exhibit space and gallery, a commercial and catering kitchen, café, VIP suite, and a collection of artistically appointed outdoor spaces; a charming quarter-acre courtyard, spacious terrace and stunning patio. Epiphany’s diverse and inclusive art programming serves to unite community and artists alike while ‘Bringing Chicago Together’.