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| Hand to God (John Ulman) |
Hand to God
Seattle Public Theater
Through June 3, 2018
For most people, puppet shows are mostly for kids, these
days, though if one takes a turn through theater history, puppets have been
used for thousands of years to augment stories and are celebrated art forms in
many cultures.
In Seattle, a handful of folks have steeped themselves in
puppetry in a variety of forms. Three that come to mind cross the gambit of
puppetry formats. Brian Kooser has created some enormous puppets in shows,
though he hasn’t created his own production in quite awhile. Scot Augustson
uses shadow puppetry almost exclusively in his subversive political-social
commentary plays. Jean Enticknap uses Bunraku puppets (with Kooser’s help) for
her children’s Thistle Theatre. Ben
Burris, a young performer who worked with Thistle for years, has graduated
to making his own puppets and is now starring in Robert Askins’ Hand to God at Seattle Public Theater.
Burris has decamped to Los Angeles in the way of young
actors seeking more fame and fortune and … acting, one supposes, but has
returned here for a showing of his incredible mastery of this particular art.
My personal impression of the focus of this very odd, funny, intense play is
that the subject of the play is really “the mother,” but Burris’ ability to
manage the subtleties of acting with a hand puppet – that really does seem to
become The Devil while attached to a generally mild-mannered teenage boy – is a
major blessing.
