Not exactly Avenue Q...

[hotjohn]

Posted: 10/14/10 at 3:03pm

...was the first thing I said as I turned to my partner after 'Or You Could Kiss Me' at the National Theatre's Cottesloe.

The latest show from the 'War Horse' puppet company in collaboration with Neil Bartlett, I can't remember sitting through a more boring, pretentious load of old twaddle. Perhaps there was a hidden meaning that I didn't get or, most likely, there was nothing to get.

Two big problems with the show in my opinion:

1: The main characters, four smaller than life-size puppets, are each manipulated by up to four large men who frequently obscure the view of the puppets - whose brilliant idea was that?

2: The puppets are meant to represent the 19-year old and 86-year old puppeteers but their faces, being roughly hewn from wood, look too similar - surely the 19-year olds should have smooth faces? Why didn't that occur to anyone before opening night?

As my partner said, "Just as well there was no intermission as we would have been very tempted to miss the second act".

[Mark_E]

Posted: 10/14/10 at 5:56pm

I have heard nothing but bad reports about this show, and I'm going on Saturday night . I hope I enjoy it

Edit: Changed my ticket for tonight so I could go see Onnasis tomorrow night. Will report back later. Updated On: 10/15/10 at 05:56 PM

[Mark_E]

Posted: 10/16/10 at 4:18am

Well I went last night and I've gotta say I really (and surprisingly) enjoyed it. The puppets are incredible. The way they are used is just stunning, worked really well, more so with the older puppets than the younger ones I think.

I think the "narrator" as such had a lot of random moments, and a lot of her material could have been cut, the show seemed to flow quite well as a whole. I was totally engaged with the puppets from the moment they came on, and it was incredibly touching. I was sitting high up so the puppeteers didn't get in the way at all, probably better than the "stalls" for this show.

But yes, would definitely recommend if you can open your eyes to a very different sort of theatre.