December 9-16, 2004

theater

Puppet Love

frosty fantoccini: Even puppets like to play in the snow.

by Toby Zinman

I love the moment in a puppet show when a puppet (in this case a floppy dog) looks out at the audience, and in that shared glance—well, I know it's ridiculous, but it feels like a shared glance—there is sympathy or exasperation or something human, something complicit.

Mum Puppettheatre had for several years a tradition of fantoccini (Italian for "puppets") shows for the holidays, and Santa Claus Conquers the Fantoccini restores the annual event. All the titles suggested old B movies (Attack of the 50-Foot Fantoccini, The Bride of Fantoccini, The Revenge of the Fantoccini). This year's title derives, the program tells us, from a science-fiction movie, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. The title, it turns out, doesn't really matter.

Mum Puppettheatre's stage—small enough in its own right—now contains another, much tinier stage, and in no time your eye adjusts to the scale. Meanwhile, Andrew Periale and Robert Smythe have created an amusing and imaginative variety of puppets to fill it.

In a show with a dozen vignettes, some are, of course, funnier than others. Those that try to be meaningful and moving are the least successful, while those that are goofy and clever and a little bit mean are the most appealing. My favorite was the Edward Gorey piece, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, which sedately proceeds through 26 events of mayhem, destroying one Styrofoam creature after another in alphabetical order. Another funny one was "A Visit From St. Nicholas," during which a member of the audience read "The Night Before Christmas" while various props were flung at and stuck onto her by unseen hands. The most surprising puppetry came in a piece called "Mu Shu Beef," in which black-and-white shoes become very vocal Guernsey cows.

It's a rare thing to sit in a theater and hear both children and adults laughing. This holiday puppet show, recommended for children 10 and older, is genuine family entertainment—cute but not cloying, occasionally clever and often charming.

Santa Claus Conquers the Fantoccini Through Dec. 18, Mum Puppettheatre, 115 Arch St., 215-925-7686