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Comic Book Resources
August 26, 2008
"Gaiman & McKean's 'Mr. Punch' On Stage"
By Andy Khouri
Performed every weekend between now and September 7 at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles is “The Comical Tragedy or Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch,” a stage adaptation of the 1995 Vertigo graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. The production, staged by the Rogue Artists Ensemble, follows a number of live action projects based on the work of the acclaimed “The Sandman” author including last year’s “Stardust,” 2006’s “Where’s Neil When You Need Him?” album, and 2005’s original screenplay “MirrorMask.”
Based in part on his own childhood memories, “Mr. Punch” is Gaiman’s most personal comics work and arguably McKean’s greatest illustrative achievement (at least on paper), combining line art, photography, design and other disciplines to create the deeply idiosyncratic 96-page graphic novel about a man’s fractured recollections of a boyhood summer spent at a seedy seaside arcade. Throughout the story, the narrator’s memories align disturbingly with the classic puppet show tale of Punch and Judy, in which the outrageous Mr. Punch murders his wife and child, possibly among others. Adapting such a work for any medium, much less the stage--possibly the most difficult in terms of funding and resources and definitely the most limited in terms of space--would seem more than daunting to most, but director Sean T. Cawelti and the Rogues somehow manage to pull it off admirably.
McKean’s stylized figures and meticulously murky atmospheres are realized on stage with a prodigious use of masks, exemplary scenic and lighting design, and projection screens displaying portions of the graphic novel as well as new artwork and animation. Indeed, the Rogue Artists Ensemble--who practice what they call Hyper-theater, a decidedly modern hybrid of technology, puppetry, masks, dance, and music--is managed and mainly composed of artists and designers rather than traditional actors and directors, and it is clear at a glance just how enamored with McKean’s groundbreaking multimedia work the group really is. In at least one instance, the Rogues’ “Mr. Punch” actually exceeds the impact of the graphic novel, depicting as a kind of strangely exquisite yet brutal ballet a sequence in which a woman--possibly the arcade’s “mermaid” performer, possibly Mr. Punch’s forgotten girlfriend Polly--suffers a horribly botched abortion, which appears as just one or two subtle panels in the book.
While McKean’s creations are extremely well-served by the Rogues, the troupe’s admitted lack of traditional narrative expertise leaves “Mr. Punch” more creative than coherent. Gaiman’s story is inherently nebulous, playing with the unreliability of memory, but the writer deftly employs the language of comics to control the focus of his reader from page to page, telling readers what to understand and in other places inviting them to misunderstand. Nebulous, the stage production of “Mr. Punch” certainly is, with audiences often unsure of what or who to pay attention to, and, sadly, what it is they may have or may not have heard an actor say. The notable exception is Nina Silver as the Mermaid, who is marvelous in her role.
But the avant-garde is often its own reward, and this is true of “Mr. Punch’s” incredible displays of puppetry. Ranging in size and style from a baby’s face crudely drawn on a ball on the end of a stick to a massive, dragon-sized crocodile with glowing eyes, the Rogues breathe life into Gaiman and McKean’s imaginative dream sequences and madcap interpretations of the classic Punch and Judy show. That the puppet performers are able to bring sophisticated 21st century audiences to the side of the violently anarchic Mr. Punch is a bizarre achievement, and one that warrants serious consideration on the way home after the performance.
Hero Complex
August 17, 2008
"Neil Gaiman doing research 'on foot in rural China' for 'big project'"
By Geoff Boucher
There was an intriguing post last week on Neil Gaiman's journal that suggests that the usually black-clad teller of tales is by now on a monthlong trek through the hinterlands of China on a story safari:
Tonight I'm home, sitting on the sofa with my daughters who are watching the Olympics. This morning I went out and bought lots of lightweight, quick-drying clothes and other useful travel things, with my assistant Lorraine. (At one point during the clothes-buying part of things Lorraine helpfully said, "Boss you're still wearing their pants. Why don't you go back into your own?" Which seemed like a sensible idea, so I grabbed my jeans and headed back to the changing room, overhearing the sales lady saying, "Is he a professor?" and Lorraine's reply of, "He's a writer. It's the same thing.")
So I now have lots of new, light, easily washed clothes, many of them grey or white, which means I will spend much of the next four weeks feeling like I am in disguise.
I don't know if I'll be able to post while on the road -- I'm going to be very much off the beaten track doing research for the next big project, and a lot of time I'll be on foot in rural China...
The next big project sounds mighty interesting. Gaiman also said in that post that he is in talks with publisher HarperCollins about making his first novel, "Neverwhere," available for reading for free online, as was done with his book "American Gods" this past February. "Neverwhere" could be everywhere as soon as September, he wrote, and it will "be done in some different ways" than the "American Gods" approach.
In other Gaiman news, the Los Angeles Times recently had a well-done piece on the stage production inspired by his unsettling 1995 graphic novel "The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch."
The article was written by Amy Nicholson and quotes Gaiman on the underlying themes of the book.
"It's not so much about the nature of memory as about the nature of family memory, collective memory, generational memory," says Gaiman. "Family secrets are always there and are impossible to properly unravel -- and then at the point where the secret doesn't matter, nobody remembers any longer."41237081
Gaiman's story took root with SoCal's Rogue Artists Ensemble, a company devoted to puppetry and masks. The Rogues spent two years asking to adapt the book for the stage -- a "mad persistence," says Gaiman, that won them the distinction of being the first troupe to be given clearance.
"All the things we love to do are already in there," says Rogue's artistic director Sean T. Cawelti, who stages the show.
But unpacking the layers of storytelling in puppet tradition -- now warped and bracketed through modern eyes -- is complicated for both company and audience.
"We play the violence as realistic and grim," says Cawelti of the puppet show within their show. "It's a comment on what's going on with the boy in his real world. This game is funny and cute, then serious things take place."
The play is running through Aug. 31 at the Bootleg Theatre (2220 Beverly Blvd., L.A., (800) 838-3006). It also got a very strong review by F. Kathleen Foley, also writing for The Times.
RealTalk LA
August 17, 2008
"Mr. Punch"
By Robin Menken
For your haunted inner child.
Rogue Artists Ensemble’s “The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch,” which received its world premiere in 2007, returned to The Bootleg Theater in a run that ends August 31st.
Adapted from the Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, the production is a dark, mixed media exploration of childhood trauma. The Narrator (Miles Tabor) recalls a postwar visit to his grandfather’s seaside arcade in a memory play about family secrets, described as a “little puppet theatre of the mind.”
Shipped off to Brighton while his parents await their second child, the Boy (Sean Eaton) makes peace with his greedy, hunchback Uncle Morton (Kerr Seth Lordygan) and his frightening, failed impresario Grandfather (Dana Kelly, Jr.) When the Professor (Tom Asworth) shows up with a secret he holds over Grandfather’s head, he’s allowed to set up his theatre in the Arcade. (Victorian Punch puppeteers were called professors in Britain.)
The innocent boy’s memories conflate the chilling Mr. Punch puppet show, with the half understood machinations of his family. A car accident, a talking badger’s head and a possible murder mix together in his mind with the murderous version of the Punch story.
Punch eats his baby and kills Judy, as happened in the original, unbowdlerized version. Appalled, the boy exclaims, ” That’s not the way it’s supposed to go. Families are supposed to love each other!” The sun appears behind the puppets, Punch and Judy bask in a scene of domestic bliss. But Punch wants it his way, yelling at the Boy “Babies die!” as dark images and darker music reboots the scary version of the story.
Left to his own devices, the Boy befriends the kindly “mermaid” attraction in grandpa’s tent show. One day, the Boy spots the tailless “mermaid” dallying with his grandfather, mirrored by puppet Punch and his puppet paramour Polly noisily making love in all sorts of impossible positions. Rejuvenated by his new love, Grandfather drapes the” mermaid” in his wife’s pearls and plans to run away with her. Uncle Morton tries to buy off the pregnant girlfriend, failing that he turns to a darker criminal act. Witnessing fragments of the story, the boy harbors feeling of guilt for a lifetime, trying to put them to rest with his memory play.
I have a problem with stage and screen adaptations from Graphic Novels. With the exception of the idiosyncratic films “American Splendour”, “Persepolis” and “Through A Scanner Darkly”, I find a curious hollow quality to the story telling. Comic books and Graphic Novels need to condense the dialogue, relying on a distillation of stereotypical characters, leaving actors little to work with. Even Sam Mendes’ vaunted “Road to Perdition” and Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence” were guilty of an emotional distance from the audience.
Ironically, the Golden Age comic books copied the chiaroscuro effects of the German Expressionist influenced cinematography of thirties and forties film. Graphic Novels returned to that source material, reinvigorating the art form. Now film producers, looking for safe material to adapt, are turning back to the Comic Book, a sort of full circle. But the dialogue seems to have been flattened in the journey, and the surprises taken out of the story telling.
As in other Graphic Novel adaptations, the design elements are striking, overshadowing the script and characters. The most compelling text is the narrator’s, a grown man remembering his strange childhood. His speeches contain the poetry necessary for a rewarding theatrical experience.
As happens with other local productions, working with English accents seems to flatten many of the performances, however Nina Silver was memorable as the “mermaid”, as was the attitudinous comic turn by Don Allen, as The Bottler.
I can understand The Rogue Artists Ensemble fascination with Gaiman’s material, which taps into the dark underside of childhood with a gothic relish that recalls Ray Bradbury.
Aided by technical director Tyler Stamets, director Sean T. Cawelti mixed an ambitious brew of sound, music, projected, live and puppet performance, raising the bar on under 99 seat house productions. Mel Domingo’s lighting, John Nobori’s sound and Ben Phelps original music set the haunting tone.
Award winning scenic designer Joel Daavid studied cinematography at the American Film Institute and his Mr. Punch show contains many film projections, blending animation, layers of images, shadow puppetry and live silhouetted performances. Brian White’s video design filled the side screens, functioning like the filmic segueways made popular in Hollywood studio pics of the 1940’s.
With the exception of a fun house ride sequence, accomplished by faceless dancers ‘flying’ the Boy overhead, I found the choreography less inspired, and, missing a narrative direction. Joyce Hutter’s puppets and Patrick Rubio’s masks captured the funky, garish carnivalesque quality of McKean’s work, capitalizing on the scarier elements of childhood memory.
Director Sean T. Cawelti told me that Gaiman’s collaborator, illustrator Dave Mckean visited the current production and very pleased, stated that the Rogue Artists Ensemble had “got it right”. Gaiman granted “The Rogues” clearance after two years of “mad persistence” asking for the rights.
Yoga Gal's Monologues
August 12, 2008
"Punch Drunk"
One thing that is disheartening about living in L.A., the so called "Entertainment Capital of the World," is the fact that the locals don't support small live theater. Unless it's a full blown production such as "Wicked" most small theater productions are ignored; pity! I was so thrilled to attend the gala evening of the Rogue Artists Ensemble's production of "The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch". A rather dark tale based on the graphic novel of Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean. The production was dark and magical and did full justice to Mr. Gaiman's dark wit and themes as well as captured the beauty and wit of Dave McKean's art work. I also had the pleasue of meeting Dave McKean and his charming wife (another six degrees of Neil Gaiman moment). The Rogue players were wonderful as well as the staff of the Bootleg Theater were open, kind and friendly! Plus, due to being a gala I enjoyed free food, cocktails and the music from a great band before the show and you won't get that seeing "Wicked"! Scroll down for more cool shots of the evening.
LA Times
August 10, 2008
"'Mr. Punch,' from Rogue Artists Ensemble, is packed"
By David Ng
Based on a Neil Gaiman-Dave McKean graphic novel, the production has puppetry, masks, video, dance and more.
(Gallery can be found here.)
If there was an award for most imagery per square inch in a play, this year's statuette would almost certainly go to the Rogue Artists Ensemble's production of "The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch."
A densely packed epic about one boy's adventures during a seaside stay with his grandfather, this memory play overflows with nightmarish grotesquerie designed equally to repulse and fascinate.
Adapted from the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, the production combines puppetry, masks, video, dance, shadow play and a giant crocodile head to reproduce the spirit of the book's illustrations. Straddling the line between high-tech and low-tech, the show, at the Bootleg Theater through Aug. 31, is a genre-busting assemblage of competing theatrical styles.
"Creating an illusion in a small space is a lot like putting on a magic show," said Megan Owings, dramaturge at Rogue Artists. "That's the blessing and the curse of working in such a small theater."
First produced last year, the revised "Mr. Punch" contains video projections of McKean's original illustrations. Drawings flicker in the background as the cast performs a scene on stage -- a kind of visual homage to the illustrator, who granted the company permission to use his artwork.
To create the effects, video artist Brian White scanned the illustrations and used PhotoShop to erase speech balloons. He then imported the images into After Effects, a program that allowed him to create an animated loop for certain scenes. In all, the play contains nearly 70 original video sequences, ranging from a few seconds to several minutes. "The idea was to integrate the video into the set so it was a fundamental part of the scenery, not just ancillary to it," White says.
With so much happening on stage, it's sometimes hard to know where to look in "Mr. Punch." Sean Cawelti, the show's director and the company's artistic director, likens the play to getting lost in a Rubik's Cube. "The play melds together physical spaces as well as different time periods," he says.
Much of the action takes place in shadows and semi-darkness, a decision partly inspired by a line from the novel: "The pre-dawn world lacked colour: there was grey in abundance and a strange strained blue."
Lighting designer Mel Domingo says the director kept pushing her to make scenes darker. "We want people to see what's on stage, but we also want to keep the grittiness," she says. "It's about sacrificing a little of the visuals for the atmosphere."
Inhabiting this crepuscular universe are a young boy (a role shared by Sean Eaton and Connor Merkovich), his arcade-owning grandfather (Dana Kelly Jr.) and a voluble professor ( Tom Ashworth) who runs an ultra-violent Punch and Judy puppet show.
Most of the actors wear T-shaped masks covering the top portion of their faces, giving them a half-human, half-marionette appearance. "They're supposed to look like they just stepped out of the novel," says mask designer Patrick Rubio.
For the climactic scene, Rubio created an elaborate 4-foot-tall tribal mask made of 20 layers of coffee filters painted bright colors. Total cost: $25.
Actors double as handlers for the 24 puppets seen on stage. The puppets vary in style from bunraku-style characters to traditional three-finger puppets.
To create the Punch and Judy show, designer Joyce Hutter sculpted the puppet bodies out of clay and then made molds of silicone. She injected each mold with polyurethane expanding foam, the kind often used in the armrests of cars.
For the shadow puppet scenes, creators used Indonesian-style flat-board marionettes. In the original production of "Mr. Punch," the shadow puppetry was performed live, but the actors quickly found that it was too physically demanding. For this production, they pre-taped the scenes that are projected onto a screen.
But it's still not easy. "This is the least comfortable show ever," exclaimed one actress. Each night, the 10 cast members must navigate the multilevel set (designed by Joel Daavid) while coordinating dialogue with the more than 1,000 sound cues that are mixed live.
"The hardest thing was making it all work together on a small budget," said Tyler Stamets, the company's technical director.
"We wanted to be faithful to McKean's imagery, but we also wanted to create our own vision."
LA Times
July 26, 2008
"Rogue Artists Ensemble's 'The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch' at Bootleg Theater"
By F. Kathleen Foley
The reworked 'Mr. Punch' is a triumph of small-theater design.
An adult narrator recalls a long-ago visit to his grandfather's seaside arcade -- for him, not a Proustian amble down memory lane but a frantic dash through a no man's land where monsters lurk.
Rogue Artists Ensemble's "The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch," which received its world premiere in 2007, is back. Now at the Bootleg Theater, the rewritten and recalibrated production is a triumphant fusion of text and technology, as potent a distillation of childhood terror as can be found outside the Brothers Grimm.
Set in postwar England, the action centers around a Boy (Sean Eaton, doubling in the role with Connor Merkovich) who has been shipped off to his grandparents while his parents await the birth of another child. Abandoned and displaced, the child befriends a Mermaid (Nina Silver) -- actually a performer in a seaside exhibit who is having an affair with the Boy's Grandpa (Dana Kelly Jr.).
Marginalized by the new medium of television, the once-popular arcade is failing fast. Still, some time-honored traditions linger, such as a Punch and Judy show run by a mysterious Professor ( Tom Ashworth). The malevolently clownish Mr. Punch, who beats his wife, kills his baby and wrestles with the Devil himself, becomes an object of fascination and dread for the Boy, as real as any human in his bizarre and unsettling new surroundings.
Based on a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman illustrated by Dave McKean, this adaptation by director Sean T. Cawelti, Miles Taber and the company keeps the narrative taut and comprehensible within its surreal context. Among the proficient cast, which includes Kerr Seth Lordygan, Don Allen, Miles Taber, Cari Turley and Matthew Ritchey, Silver shines as the doomed Mermaid who finds the path of love as agonizing as does any Hans Christian Andersen heroine.
The amazing design elements set a new standard for sub-99-seat theater. Particularly noteworthy are Mel Domingo's lighting, John Nobori's sound and Joel Daavid's scenic design, which meshes so perfectly with Brian White's extraordinary video design that it's sometimes difficult to tell where the physical set leaves off and the taped images begin. Original music by Ben Phelps helps set the eerie tone, and Joyce Hutter's amazing puppets, which range from small-scale to life-size, are works of art that could stand on their own in a gallery.
Presiding over the whole, Cawelti brings military precision to this near-faultless production, which, although definitely not for children, might well awaken any adult's traumatized inner child.
experienceLA
July 29, 2008
"Mr. Punch Grown Up"
By Tiina Vuorenmaa
I'm always on the lookout for the dark, sinister and slightly quirky here in LA, and I certainly found it (and more) in the multimedia performance of The Comical Tragedy OR Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch. Once I saw the unique YouTube advertisement for the show (see end of post), I set on getting my hands first on the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. This isn't your ordinary comic book. Filled with both photographs, sketches and photographs of sketches, the story follows the memories of a young boy at his grandfather's arcade. Throughout his time at the arcade, the boy visits the Punch and Judy (puppet) Show, which, at first, I thought was a fantastic element created by Gaiman, but only to find out it actually existed in England during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Enthralled by the richness of the imagery in the graphic novel, but still a bit confused by the story, I made my way to the Bootleg Theater, where the stage alone reflected the whimsical and bleak nature of the seaside arcade with intricate writings on the floor, flashing carnival lights and tattered curtains. The play - no, the performance - began unassumingly enough, but this "hyper-theater" of the Rogue Artists Ensemble truly brought the graphic novel to life. Actors wore half-masks and full-body masks to reflect the art style in the book, while two screens played in the background featuring film animations of the graphic novel and doubling as shadow screens hinting at the vagueness of childhood memories. The fantastic sound effects set the eerie mood and brought you right to the seaside, and of course, there were puppets doing… well, outrageous things. Plus, like the Punch and Judy Shows of old, there was audience participation bringing a sense of intimacy to the whole production.
The show was mixed with light humor and painful topics. There were humans imitating puppets and puppets imitating humans that one would sometimes forget - they're just made of sticks, paper and cloth. In the end, I came out with an immense appreciation for this multimedia approach to theater, a better understanding of the graphic novel, and a childlike fascination with puppets! Catch this sick, twisted, but totally fun show on weekends through August 31st!
Al Borde
July 9, 2008
"The Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch"
By Rafael Acero
In contrast to major theatre production, independent plays may sometimes lack a wow factor when it comes to scenery, effects, and stage production in general. There’s just no way you can compare, however, the amount of talent you find in such plays is incredibly unbelievable. There are some productions however, that bring you to a different dimension without a millionaire budget, but with an immense amount of talent. The Rogue Artists Ensemble are capable of doing that and more.
Adapted from the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, the Rogue Artists Ensemble presents “The Comical Tragedy OR Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch”.
Mr. Punch is a dark fable in which the innocence of childhood and the pain of adulthood collide in the oft-fragmented recesses of memory. Mr. Punch explores the twisted nature of memory, the cruelty of adults and the beauty of simple kindness.
Prepare yourself for a one of a kind show. It’s definitely a must.
Los Angeles CityBeat
August 7, 2008
"Mr. Punch"
The complete title is The Comical Tragedy or Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch. The Rogue Artists Ensemble adaptation of the Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean graphic novel journeys into a British man’s (Miles Taber) memories of his childhood summer spent hanging out at his grandfather’s (Dana Kelly Jr.) seaside arcade, where the star attractions include a brutal Punch and Judy show, run by a manipulative “professor” (Tom Ashworth), and a kindly mermaid (Nina Silver). Sean T. Cawelti’s staging is a design tour de force, involving masks, puppets, projections, video, song and dance. The atmosphere, more than the play, is the thing. Bootleg Theatre, near Beverly and Alvarado, L.A. (800) 838-3006. rogueartists.org. Closes August 31.
The Smiling Spider
August 1, 2008
"The Comical Tragedy OR Tragical Comedy of MR. PUNCH ~ Bootleg Theater ~ through August 31st"
By frankiely
I suggest Harry Potter fans stay away from the Rogue Artists‘ adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s “The Comical Tragedy OR Tragical Comedy of MR. PUNCH.” It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s not for humans period. It’s for puppets. Only creatures made of wood can withstand this two-hour ride on the planet of the puppets where humans’ distorted features forever expose the latent predator in all of us. Think twice before you step in the theater, because, like The Professor (Tom Ashworth) says to The Boy (Sean Eaton/Connor Merkovich): “When you put Mr. Punch on, there’s no taking him off."
MR. PUNCH is the story of a young man (Miles Taber) reminiscing about a life-changing summer when as a Boy (Connor Merkovich/Sean Eaton,) despite grumbling and protesting, his parents sent him away to spend the summer at His Grandpa’s (Dana Kelly, Jr.) Grandpa runs a fair by the sea with The Boy’s hunchback Uncle (Kerr Seth Lordygan.) The young parents laugh at The Boy’s desire to stay with them and cut even deeper by adding that Grandpa might eat him for supper.
Settled by the English seaside, the Boy spends most of his time with the fair’s main attraction: Mr. Punch. “Families are supposed to love each other,” he whines while watching Mr. Punch torturing his newborn. The star miniature obeys the little master. Suddenly, flowers bloom on the tiny stage. The sun rises. But the Creature takes a 360 degree turn to spew a “IT’S MYYY WOOORRRLLLD TOO!” so convincing it blew the house down. Think before you enter. Disneyland’ small world might never ever feel the same. It is a Mr. Punch’s world and Mr. Punch does whatever the hell he wants.
The Rogue Artists place several screens on a multi-leveled stage to mirror the fragmented world of the graphic novel. Words. Fleeting faces. Shadows. Hypnotic video and music invoke Neil Gaiman’s unruly imagination, famous for pulling the viewer in several directions all at once. The recurring scene of a beating is played as comedy and/or tragedy by giant puppets, tiny puppets, shadow puppets or was it…? In Neil Gaiman’s world, the comfort of lines drawn between good and bad, reality and fantasy, puppets and humans is pulled from us and we are left in the cold with nobody to believe in and nothing to hold on to. “Adults lie. But not always.” Even when Grandpa takes The Boy fishing, a gurgling sound and the image of a giant hook descending into murky waters loom over the tender moment.
The production is so innovative I had to ask The Rogues where they come from. I couldn’t believe it when they told me this grandguignolesque and gargantuesque theater feast was made in L.A., not because we’re not capable or deserving of it but because of the lack of an audience for live theater in our city. I hope they will stay. We need their brand of “Hyper-theater, an innovative hybrid of theater traditions, puppetry, mask work, dance, music, and modern technology.”
Sometimes, hyper-stylization can eat at the heart of the story. In the end, Mr. Punch’s boundless vitality does steal the show from the Grandpa, Uncle and other human characters who, despite being performed by accomplished actors, suffer from displaying more of the same behaviors in scenes that sometimes lacked dramatic tension. I felt so petty finding flaws with a show that animates four-legged creatures with such inventiveness and humor that I turned to my guest, Taco contributor Erick Huerta, for a second opinion. Erick didn’t share my frustration. A Neil Gaiman devotee, Erick enjoyed every moment of the show. Because IT’S MMYYY REEEEVVIIEEEEW, I will say that it’s when they show rather than tell that the play mesmerizes with its multi-media extravaganza of devil-sheeps, deceptive projections, puppet gore and miniature sex.
Among the humans, the Mermaid (Nina Silver) stood out maybe because she was the only one who didn’t wear a mask, because her feet, like her fate, were bound and because she addressed us. Once again, the Rogues demonstrate their intimate understanding of Neil Gaiman’s dark humor by involving the audience in Mr. Punch’s dangerous games. When they popped the fatal question to us at the end, I couldn’t say a word. To my surprise, some people in the audience already had answers to the complex riddle MR. PUNCH turned out to be. If you have one too, let me know.
Please note August 8th through the 10th are DARK, I believe it means these shows are restricted for puppet audiences. Note to humans: Regardless of your age, take some blood pressure medication before the show, turn off your cell phones and turn on your pacemaker. Steal one from your relatives if you have too. Remember, it’s a puppet show.
LA Downtown News
July 26, 2008
"Puppets and Punches: Rogue Artists Ensemble Has the World on a String at Bootleg Theater"
By Dany Margolies
The visuals of The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, at the Bootleg Theater through Aug. 31, are remarkable. They are paradoxically clear and metaphoric, and they are achingly beautiful and eerily frightening.
The question is, are visuals alone enough for theatergoers? While it may satisfy some audience members, others will be left wanting.
Just like the narrator here - a man who has only scattered memories of a long-ago summer at his grandfather's seaside arcade - the audience is left with the play's fragmented imagery of familial affection and cruelty, of the world's coziness and commercialism.
Sean T. Cawelti, working with Miles Taber and the Rogue Artists Ensemble, has adapted the show from Neil Gaiman's graphic novel Mr. Punch. The production, which incorporates some of the Dave McKean illustrations from the novel, is a memory play reflected in funhouse mirrors. "The path of memory is neither straight nor safe," says the narrator, who wishes he could relive his past and ask the questions that still haunt him.
As the title suggests, this is a whimsically dark tale told through clever uses of the ages-old art of puppetry (designed here by Joyce Hutter). But the production also employs newer technology, including prerecorded video and onstage camera work (video designs by Brian White), as well as nostalgically eerie lighting design (Mel Domingo) on a multilevel set (Joel Daavid) that packs an astonishing number of locales onto the small stage area. The sound design (John Nobori) is alternately subtle and earthshaking, occasionally emanating in vibrations from under the audience's seats.
The production includes a cast of performers who sing (music composed by Ben Phelps) and dance (choreography by Nate Hodges) and also manipulate the puppets and the massive scenery. Most of the performers do so adeptly; all of them do so with great heart.
Sean Eaton plays the Boy with concentration and intensity beyond the young actor's years. As Grandpa, Dana Kelly Jr. is cozy when with the Boy, and oversexed around the Mermaid (Nina Silver in a witty portrayal). Tom Ashworth makes a chilling Professor, and Kerr Seth Lordygan induces the creeps as the Uncle.
Still, the most fascinating element is the stagecraft. Cari Turley, who manipulates the dog puppet, unwittingly steals scenes - as the dog bites the Uncle or pants slowly while resting, it becomes the most realistic thing onstage. When Grandpa tells a story with tiny props while a video system shows his hands in close-up, it's more tempting to watch Kelly manipulate the props than to follow the video.
The Boy also recalls seeing shows at the seaside and being impressed with the stagecraft. Although his memories of a Mr. Toad show are cloudy, he says, he vividly recalls going backstage and seeing the sweaty actors who had been creating the onstage animals. As he remembers that time, a badger head is propped above a badger coat (costume designs by Kerry Hennessy), and the Boy's memory crystallizes.
Despite the dark nature of the piece, warm charm abounds. The Boy's fragile and paper-thin grandmother is represented by a puppet created from a sheet of paper. A crocodile puppet the size of a Buick emerges from a garage-door-like curtain and demands to be fed. When the Boy is told to count sheep so he can fall asleep, the sheep puppets slowly bound over his headboard - until one gets stuck and the Boy must climb out of bed and help it.
While it is all impressive stuff, the artifice here, no matter how artistically accomplished, will not knock out everyone.
Broadway World
July 24, 2008
"Rogue Artists Ensemble Presents '...Mr. Punch'"
By BWW News Desk
Revamped to include a reworked script, additional scenes and new effects, Rogue Artists Ensemble remounts its world premiere production of "The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch", adapted for the stage by Sean T. Cawelti from the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman (Stardust) and Dave McKean. The newly revised version of the Rogues' critically acclaimed Mr. Punch ("a feast for the senses" - Daily Variety) opens at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles on July 18 where performances continue through August 31. Low-priced previews begin July 11.
Mr. Punch is a dark fable in which the innocence of childhood and the pain of adulthood collide in the oft-fragmented recesses of memory. A man's memories of his boyhood at his grandfather's failing seaside arcade are full of talking badgers, crocodiles, car accidents, mermaids and murder - or could that just have been the Punch and Judy show? Told through the eyes of the man's younger self, Mr. Punch explores the twisted nature of memory, the cruelty of adults and the beauty of simple kindness.
"I read a book of reminiscences from the 1920s written by a Punch and Judy man," explained Gaiman from his home in Minneapolis. "Punch was a little like a serial killer who left a legacy of violence behind him. Then, I discovered some strong and bizarre connections to the story in my own history - a hunchbacked uncle who was a twin and a baby who may or may not have been killed in that generation. It was like a huge game of 'Chinese Whispers', or what Americans call 'Telephone', in which messages get changed and no one can remember the exact details - all you get are fragments. So the novel is a very personal piece for me."
The Rogues bring Gaiman's semi-autobiographical story and its illustrations by celebrated artist Dave McKean to vivid life through an innovative hybrid of theater traditions, puppetry and digital media. The 2007 production at Theater/Theatre was the recipient of five Honorable Mentions at the 2007 Back Stage West Garland Awards. Daily Variety called it an "otherworldly phantasmagoria... succeeds brilliantly as an attempt to recreate the style of the original graphic novel," and the LA Weekly called it "a visual feast." For a taste of the graphic novel and the Rogue's stage production, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25mgB4rvow .
At the Bootleg, the lobby walls will be filled with art from local artists inspired by the project's carnival setting, and there will be an exhibit from the International Puppetry Museum (IPM) displaying the rich 200-year history of Punch and Judy. In addition, every Friday at 7 pm the Bootleg will feature live music from bands including FigureOne, Jesca Hoop and Marcela Carmona (check website for complete listing).
Rogue Artists Ensemble differs from other theater companies in that it is run by a collective of artists and designers rather than by actors, writers or directors. Adapting Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's graphic novel has been a labor of love, and the performances conclude over three years of work by nearly forty artists.
Mr. Punch was adapted for the stage by Rogue Artists Ensemble artistic director Sean T. Cawelti who also directs. Original Music is by Ben Phelps; Puppet Design is by Joyce Hutter; Mask Design is by Pat Rubio; Set Design is by Joel Daavid; Costume Design is by Kerry Hennessy; Lighting Design is by Melissa Joy Domingo; Illustration and Video Design are by Brian White. The cast features Don Allen, Tom Ashworth, Sean Eaton, Dana Kelly, Kerr Seth Lordygan, Connor Merkovitch, Matt Ritchey, Nina Silver, Miles Taber and Cari Turley.
Neil Gaiman is a best selling novelist and screenwriter with works including "American Gods," "Anansi Boys," "Coraline" and "Wolves in the Walls," and he is one of the top writers in modern comics. The 2007 adaptation of his novel "Stardust" starred Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Claire Danes, and he wrote the screenplay for Robert Zameckis' Beowolf starring Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie. Gaiman's work has appeared in translation in dozens of countries, and he is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top ten living post-modern writers.
Dave McKean is a British illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, filmmaker and musician whose work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art and sculpture.
Gaiman and McKean first met in 1986, collaborating on a short graphic novel of disturbing childhood memories, "Violent Cases," which garnered instant critical acclaim. Since then, the pair has worked together on numerous award-winning comic books, graphic novels and children's books including Henson Pictures' serial fantasy film MIRRORMASK.
LA Weekly
July 24, 2008
"The Comical Tragedy or Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch"
By Bill Raden
The Rogue Artists Ensemble's lavishly mounted, highly ambitious adaptation of writer Neil Gaiman and illustrator Dave McKean's 1995 graphic novel is a marvel of expressionistic spectacle. Unfortunately, no amount of scenic splendor can camouflage a torpid, overly elliptical script lacking even the rudimentary character shadings or conflict-driven scene dynamics essential to compelling drama. Much of the blame must go to director-adaptor (with Miles Taber) Sean T. Cawelti and his quasi-commedia mise en scène. Designer Joyce Hutter's meticulously re-created Punch and Judy puppet show forms the allegorical touchstone for Gaiman's moody mystery of a man (Taber) coming to terms with fractured childhood memories of a fateful summer spent at his grandfather's seaside arcade. Taking his cue from this, Cawelti's staging employs a staggering array of grotesque masks (by Patrick Rubio), shadow puppetry, entrancing digital video projections (by Brian White) and a haunting score (by composer Ben Phelps) in order to evoke the cinematic sweep of McKean's illustrations. In his very faithfulness to his source, however, he fails to translate its visual syntax into the spoken language of the theater. But if that leaves little for his actors, it's a field day for Cawelti's outstanding crew of talented designers and musicians. This team's ultimate tribute may be the fact that the more one ignores the live performance for the show's awesome production values, the better the evening becomes.
Frontiers Magazine
May 15, 2007
"Mr. Punch"
By P. Ryan Baber
Comic books and graphic novels are no strange to the silver and small screens, but Theatre/Theater’s Mr. Punch introduces this print genre to the world of multimedia, avant-garde performance art. Set against the haunting backdrop of a dilapidated beachfront arcade, the show combines video elements, puppet manipulation (including a deliciously chilling dream badger), mask work, brutal Punch-and-Judy puppet shows, a singing mermaid, and some unsettling fourth-wall breaking to form an entrancing Grand Guignol of memory, regret, and the violence of loss. Based on a 1995 graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (the Sandman comics), Mr. Punch conveys the shadowy, gothic beauty of an ancient calliope playing a long-forgotten circus tune. With an impressively ambitious and creepily coherent visual sensibility, this daring new adaptation is proof that when talented imaginations are involved, the theatre still has more than a few tricks up its sleeve.
Campus Circle
May 14, 2007
"The Comical Tragedy or Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch"
By Kerr Lordygan
Based on the graphic novel by The Sandman comic creators Neil Gaiman (author) and Dave McKean (artist), "The Comical Tragedy or Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch" merges straight theater with puppetry and multimedia effects to create an incredibly unique entertainment experience.
The Rogue Artists Ensemble is known for creating unconventional theatrical works that test the limits of the imagination. The players often utilize puppetry, so their marriage with "Mr. Punch*" is a perfect union.
The Vertigo graphic novel of Mr. Punch was first published in 1995. It centered around people and their memories, and how they manifest in different ways. The bridge between memory and current reality becomes shorter and shorter until it doesn’t seem to exist anymore.
In the theatrical version, we see twelve-year-old actor Dalton Kansas O’Dell as the Boy and do not realize until later that he is the memory of an adult male who does not necessarily remember things they way they actually happened. His memories become warped and maybe even more wicked than their reality.
Rogue Artistic Director Sean T. Cawelti not only directs the piece, he also adapted it from its original graphic novel form (with miles Taber and Rae Walker). A truly imaginative eye is Cawelti’s, whose vision envelopes audiences in a dark place, both feared and revered by the child in each of us.
Cawelti says in the notes that adapting Mr. Punch has been a "labor of love" for almost two years now. The hard work has paid off.
Patrick Heyn and Brian White’s colorful video design provided additional fluidity to the graphic artistry onstage. The videos successfully helped to merge real life with comic book imagery.
Not having read the Punch and Judy comics myself, I still found the piece fascinating to watch and profound enough to be discussed long after the lights went down. I would have appreciated a bit more, perhaps, if the storyline was of a more linear style, as I had some difficulty following the plot at times.
But Patrick Rubio’s mask design was quite impressive and enabled the audience to decipher the difference between memory and reality.
Dalton O’Dell as the Boy provided an honest performance amidst the enveloping mayhem. A standout presentation by Lucas Salazer as his Uncle Morton was full of sincere character and was appreciated with each entrance onto the stage.
The rest of the cast provided excellent performances as well, including Nina Silver as the Mermaid. Silver’s character was charming and likeable. Her rapport with the audience was nice as well.
Joyce Hutter’s puppet design was terrific and apparently true to the comic art. Overall, it felt as if the audience had entered into the graphic novel, not only as a voyeur, but as a participant.
The Punch puppet was accurate and amusing. (The voice of Mr. Punch, however, was appropriate for the character, but very shrill. It became slightly unnerving after a while.) At first glance it appeared child-friendly and harmless, but the twisted personality eventually seeped out.
Several times, the puppet of the Baby was thrown out into the audience for a group participatory game of catch. The puppets were, in fact, quite violent with each other, to the amusement of the theatrical "watchers" of the puppet show.
At one point, the puppets become full blown, life-size entities before our eyes. The experience was truly magical.
The cast seemed to be enjoying every moment of the show, as did the audience. This is a completely unique production and grown-up, scarred children everywhere will appreciate it.
Theater-goers can also visit the gallery and puppet display presented in the lobby and the alternate theatre.
The Daily Bruin
May 9, 2007
"Mr. Punch"
By David Greenwald
The works of genre-spanning author Neil Gaiman are journeys into the abyss, internal voyages that draw on dream and memory as well as the far reaches of the imagination.
The author of novels such as "American Gods" and "Stardust" and the award- winning comic book "Sandman," Gaiman’s brand of surrealist fantasy draws from a line of writers going from Shakespeare straight through to Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison. His 1995 graphic novel "The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch," done with longtime collaborator Dave McKean, follows a central character -The Boy- remembering a series of horrible events from his childhood as performed and mirrored by a Punch and Judy puppet show.
If nothing else, the Rogue Artists Ensemble’s adaptation of the fractured "Mr. Punch" is impressive. The play, which runs until May 27, differentiates its characters and reflects The Boy’s tumultuous journey through his own memories with sinister, ornately crafted masks and costuming. The puppets are particularly well constructed; in the tiny, 60ish-seat space of Theatre/Theater, they really come alive.
The multimedia play supports the actors with a pair of video screens showing images and dialogue from the graphic novel, as well as fresh animation work. They also help reflect the scene: While The Boy sits with The Mermaid, hearing one of her stories, the screens depict thunder and lightning as the sound of pouring rain spatters from the speakers.
The acting, too, is as smooth and creative as the play’s technical aspects as the story moves through its often confusing, disjointed scenes. Nina Silver is both sensual and motherly as a singing mermaid, and Dana Kelly plays the part of The Grandfather with lecherous charm.
Dalton O’Dell gets the show’s biggest laughs as the energetic Boy - when he tries to get a puppet dog to do a trick, he strikes quite the pose. But as its narrator of sorts, O’Dell is also the heart of the performance and his shy, childish demeanor gives the play a narrative thread to cling to.
It’s a thread the play needs desperately. From scene to scene, it shifts from real memories to the violent puppets of the Punch and Judy show - a 300-year-old puppetry tradition appropriated fittingly here - and beyond. In one scene, Mr. Toad and his friends from "The Wind in the Willows" appear.
The story itself, muddled as it is between fantasy and reality, is hard to follow, though it becomes clear that the murderous Mr. Punch, who kills Judy and her baby and fends off the Devil himself, is a mirror for the actions of The Boy’s grandpa.
What weakens the play are the flaws in its adaptation. Though the technical aspects of the complex show are well-coordinated and the actors perform with dark charisma, the scenes seem to drag on and the dialogue often seems meaningless.
The puppets themselves are often difficult to decipher behind their screechy voices. An imagined vignette of a life-size Mr. Punch performing surgery on his pregnant girlfriend with the assistance of the doctor, for instance, is a strange ballet that delivers surprised humor but, like several of the scenes, lasts far too long.
The scenes’ disjointed qualities make it difficult to know what’s important and what’s not, especially before the plot begins to open up after the intermission.
"Mr. Punch" is a wild ride, to be sure. The play is not one for the faint of heart (or the short of patience).
Though it’s not perfect, its ideas are intriguing, and the Ensemble’s execution of Gaiman and McKean’s story is imaginative and ambitious. As its subtitle suggests, there is both tragedy and comedy to be had here, and the play’s picture of loss of innocence, puppetry and the horrors perpetrated on children by adults is a fascinating web.
For anyone who’s ever lain in bed with the lights off and the rain pounding against the roof, counting sheep that turn into nightmarish, slapstick-armed puppets, "Mr. Punch" is well worth seeing.
LA Splash
May 5, 2007
A Nightmarish Puppet Show
By Alex Palmer
Mr. Punch is one nasty puppet. For starters, the bug-eyed, pincher-faced Punch throws his crying baby out of the window to its death. When his wife Judy confronts him in horror for what he has done, he beats her to death, laughing hysterically as he does. Before he’s finished, Punch murders a policeman, a hangman, and the Devil himself. This is definitely not The Muppets.
This story of Mr. Punch’s anarchic escapades, also known as the Punch and Judy Show, has been getting performed at fairs and seaside vacation spots for over 300 years (on May 9th Mr. Punch will actually turn 345 according to experts on the character), and now he's at it again with the Rouge Artists’ production of "The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch" at Theatre/Theater in Los Angeles.
Working from Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s 1995 graphic novel of the same name, Director Sean Cawelti and the Rouge Artists Ensemble have created a darkly wondrous work of multi-media theater. The play centers on a man’s childhood memories of a haunting summer spent at his grandparents’ house.
The Boy (Dalton O’Dell) spends his days at the beach watching the Punch and Judy "professor" (Tom Ashworth) perform his shows, or at his grandfather’s dilapidated arcade, listening to his mendacious grandfather (Dana Kelly) and hunchbacked uncle (Lucas Salazar) argue over money.
Besides a nurturing woman (Nina Silver) who dresses as a mermaid for the arcade, The Boy’s world is filled with callous adults who enjoy frightening him with creepy fairytales and even creepier stories of the adult world. Though at one point the video screen flashes the sentence, "Adults lie", it’s hard to distinguish where the fiction ends in the Professor’s story of The Grandpa’s dirty dealings or The Uncle’s "fairytale" about fratricide.
Unfolding as a series of surreal scenes that incorporate video, puppets, silhouette staging, and live actors, the production does an excellent job recreating the tone and aesthetic of the graphic novel. Images and lines pulled straight from the book are broadcast on the video screens, and the actors dress in outfits identical to those from the book, donning peculiar forehead masks to give them the sloping foreheads and pointy noses Gaiman and McKean give their characters. It feels as if you stepped into the novel.
But the most striking aspects of the Rogues’ production are the ways in which the puppetry and visuals create a different experience than the original material. The barrage of images and sounds, from giant masks to children’s laughter to funhouse mirrors, immerse viewers into the bleak wonderland.
"Mr. Punch" uses its live audience to explore the seductive and unreliable nature of storytelling; both the stories we are told as children, and those we learn to tell ourselves. Several characters reach out to the viewers as they spin their yarns, working the audience just as Mr. Punch asks his "boys and girls" for laughs. It’s a much more interactive experience than reading the book, though maybe a little to interactive for some (during the show I attended, several guests left at intermission grumbling about the disturbing scenes).
The production is certainly dark. In one scene, a life-size Mr. Punch aborts his own child and wraps The Boy in his girlfriend’s entrails. But the ferocious images are always done with the light-heartedness of a Looney Toons episode, though the viewer can decide if this makes the violent acts more or less grisly.
Nina Silver’s wonderful performance as The Mermaid is one of the most effective storytelling episodes in the show. She draws the audience in with her friendly banter and adds a positive spark to the production in her scenes, serving as the fragile source of goodness in this crude adult world.
But the real stars of the show are the puppets and their puppeteers Cari Turley, Leslie Gray, and Miles Taber (who also helped adapt "Mr. Punch" for the stage and plays The Boy as an adult). The three stalk about in painters’ jumpsuits and face covers, turning an overcoat into a frightening specter and adding a carousel and gang of crocodiles to the show with a few simple props.
With all of its elaborate imagery, "Mr. Punch" is a fascinating look at the nature of memory and childhood. Like a Punch and Judy Show, unpleasant memories of the past can run through our heads repeatedly, with fact bleeding into fantasy, and it’s up to us to ensure that Mr. Punch does not get the last laugh.
Backstage West
May 3, 2007
The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch
By Jeff Favre
Rogue Artists Ensemble’s adaptation of Dave McKean’s visually stunning drawings and Neil Gaiman’s murky, symbolic text is like an amateur platform diver trying to mimic Greg Louganis. Even with limited funds, Rogue manages several impressive moments during the two-hour multimedia blitz, but it’s not enough to overcome an uneven script, several technical glitches, unfocused direction, and a miscast lead.
Adapted by director Sean T. Cawelti, Miles Taber, and Bonnie Walker, Gaiman’s story is told as a series of muddled memories of a Man (Taber) in the U.K., who as a Boy (Dalton O’Dell) spent time away from his parents at a seaside arcade run by his Grandpa (Dana Kelly). The boy’s recollections of a Professor (Tom Ashworth) who runs a Punch and Judy show are confused with fuzzy memories of real events surrounding a woman who appeared at the arcade as a Mermaid (Nina Silver).
Most of the dreamlike scenes involve video projections on two screens (video designers Patrick Heyn and Brian White). Most of the actors wear fascinating masks designed by Patrick Rubio. There are Punch and Judy puppets designed by Joyce Hutter and full-size puppetlike characters, as well. Much of the action is set to demented carnival tunes composed by Ben Phelps.
When all of the elements are working, such as a wordless, gruesome scene of a medical procedure out of control, Mr. Punch is frightening and mesmerizing. But the plot-heavy scenes are poorly written and drag, the video projection didn’t always work properly opening night, and John Nobori’s sound design too frequently makes it impossible to hear the actors.
Silver, as the melancholy Mermaid, gives the most interesting performance, in particular with a second-act story she tells the audience. Also, Ashworth's Professor is appropriately creepy. But the role of the Boy is way beyond the abilities of O’Dell -or most young actors- and might have been better suited if performed by a petite woman. The Boy needs to show a wide range of emotion and to have an English accent. O’Dell, though game, isn’t able to handle the part.
Variety
April 29, 2007
The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch
By Terry Morgan
Rogue Artists Ensemble's world premiere adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s graphic novel "The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch" is an otherworldly phantasmagoria. Under Sean T. Cawelti’s protean direction, the show is a feast for the senses, but an ineffective lead actor and some vague character motivation keep the show from attaining its full emotional impact.
As the audience awaits the start of the show, the stage is draped with makeshift curtains as if for a decayed theater, elaborate ornamentation looming behind the shrouds. Two screens flank the space, with video projections of a sunny seaside pier -- as seen from beyond the end of the pier, underwater. On the floor a circle of handwritten text is inscribed, a vortex which combines the shadowy magic and menace of the overall scene into a premonitory whole: an invocation to art.
As an adult, the Man (Miles Taber) looks back on a troubling time in his childhood, when his parents, expecting a new baby, farmed him out to stay with his Grandpa (Dana Kelly Jr.) for a while. Grandpa runs a failing seaside fun fair, and the Boy (Dalton O’Dell) spends most of his time there, meeting his hunchbacked Uncle (Lucas Salazar) and loitering with the beautiful Mermaid (Nina Silver). Mainly, however, he is drawn to the Punch and Judy puppet tent run by the Professor (Tom Ashworth). There old tales of violence and cruelty are turned into crude comedy, the solution to squalling babies and expendable wives is murder, and the Devil is never far away.
The role of the Boy is a difficult one, and O’Dell unfortunately doesn’t seem able to deliver on all the layers of subtlety required, although he makes a game attempt. Ashworth is masterful as the Professor, emanating dark charisma, and his voicing of the cooing, psychotic Punch is perfect. Silver brings a warm sense of compassion and melancholy to the proceedings, and Salazar is vividly memorable as the gruff Uncle, his cane almost a physical extension of his will. Kelly doesn't have a great deal of stage time, but he makes the most of it in a disturbing monologue.
The adaptation by Cawelti, Taber and Rae Walker mostly works, and as an attempt to re-create the style of the original graphic novel, it succeeds brilliantly. The only weakness lies in its murky characterization. Whereas the graphic novel could get by with its dazzling admixture of pictures and prose, onstage the audience wants to know clearly why the characters are doing what they’re doing. The adaptation falls down here, which leaves the great trauma of the main character's life more mysterious than it should be.
Cawelti’s direction triumphantly mixes traditional puppeteering, shadow puppets, masks, video projections and more into a thriving whole. Joel Daavid’s spooky set combines nuance and utility. John Nobori’s waves of sound and Melissa Domingo’s washes of light make a thrilling combination. Joyce Hutter’s puppets are magnificently eerie creations, and Patrick Rubio’s masks are quite effective, particularly a huge and fierce roaring Grandpa face. Finally, Patrick Heyn and Brian White’s video design is outstanding, adding another aesthetic level of achievement and tying the entire show together.
The Daily Breeze
April 27, 2007
Packing A Punch: Adult themes blend puppets, comedy and tragedy.
By Melissa Heckscher
Meet Mr. Punch.
A hunchbacked, hook-nosed puppet who has been seen in various incarnations for more than 300 years, Mr. Punch is not your run-of-the-mill, child's birthday party marionette.
In fact, most parents might find his vicious brand of slapstick comedy a bit much, in the same way The Simpsons may be a cartoon but is not quite fitting for a 4-year-old.
"The initial reaction will be, ’I’m offended,’" said Sean Cawelti of the Rogue Artists Ensemble, which is debuting the latest Mr. Punch production, The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, tonight at Theatre/Theatre in Los Angeles. "Then they'll say, ’This is really funny and I have no choice but to laugh.’"
The play was adapted from a best-selling 1995 graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (creators of Sandman comics), a comic-strip style saga in which the eerily grinning puppet -- a slapstick-style clown who has been a figure in European puppet theaters since the 16th century -- leads a man through a nightmarish sequence of childhood memories.
To bring the novel to life, Cawelti uses a cacophony of art forms, including music, film, puppetry and live action. Puppets interact with live actors, who in turn interact with film projections.
Cawelti said he hopes the fusion of technology and stage elements will make audience members feel as if they've stepped into the pages of the novel.
"In order to tell the story, you have to use multiple storytelling conventions," he said. "[The puppets] allow the story to transcend its own boundaries so you're able to look at these things from a different perspective. But in order to believe the puppet has a life force, you have to make a conscious choice as an audience member."
For some people, that's a tough choice to make. Though in the U.S., shows such as Disney’s The Lion King have tiptoed puppetry into the mainstream, the genre is still largely viewed as children's fare.
"Puppetry is more accepted in other parts of the world," said Cawelti, who explained that he has been a puppeteer since he was 3. "Here, we view it as a juvenile art form."
But when it comes to Mr. Punch, who has throughout the years been portrayed as a jester, an anarchist and a troublemaker, "juvenile" isn't quite the right description.
Consider, for one, that the Gaiman and McKean novel -- a bastion of Punchism -- includes such lines as, "He threw the baby out of the window. Then he battered his wife to death."
It's funny, Cawelti said. But you have to see it to understand why.
Furthermore, while the novel's main character is a 12-year-old boy, the story is not meant for children, touching on various cultural taboos as domestic violence, child abuse and abortion.
And even though the performance is dark -- disturbing, even -- Cawelti said the ultimate message is a positive one.
"We all have moments in our past we were able to move away from," he said. "You learn that even though there are monsters in the world, you're able to move on."
Nina Silver, a Redondo Beach woman who plays a mermaid in the show, calls the story "a fantastic combination of innocent, filthy and wonderful."
"That's what attracted me to it," she said. "I read a description of the show and I thought, ’If I’m not in this I’ll be really bummed out.’"
For a theater group known for its unique, multimedia adaptations of classic works including those of Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Dickens, Mr. Punch was a perfect project.
So perfect, in fact, that the Jim Henson Foundation, an organization founded in 1982 by the Muppets creator to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the United States, donated $5,000 to help produce the nine-person show. It was the first grant the ensemble has received in its five-year history.
Perhaps fueling the interest in Mr. Punch is the notoriety of its namesake.
The Tim Burton-esque-style puppet is no stranger to stardom. He is believed to have descended from a 16th-century Italian clown named Pulcinella.
With no copyright protecting him from artistic recycling, Mr. Punch has been featured in film, books, comics, magazines, and of course, puppet shows, throughout the world, particularly in the U.K., where he is considered the unofficial national puppet.
"There is so much buzz about this show," Silver said. "I think the audience is going to freak out."
LA Weekly
April 15, 2007
Bug, Scab, Fowl and More: The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch
By Neal Weaver
Mr. Punch (Thomas W. Ashworth), of Punch and Judy fame, is the most unrepentant villain in theater history. He murders his wife and child, kills off the forces of justice, hangs the hangman and kills the devil - and all this in a puppet show for children. In this curious theater piece, adapted by director Sean T. Cawelti, Miles Taber and Rae Walker, from a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, Punch comes to life to haunt the dreams of a Boy (Dalton O’Dell), exiled to the penny arcade run by his Grandpa (Dana Kelly) while his mother is giving birth. The show is a visual feast, featuring an atmospheric set by Joel Daavid, a Mermaid (Nina Silver), hand puppets, rod puppets, shadow puppets, masked humans playing puppets, video projections (by Patrick Heyn and Brian) and characters from The Wind in the Willows who come romping through. Cawelti’s anarchic production is more inventive than coherent, partially because the amped-up sound and raucous cries of the ensemble sometimes drown out dialog and lyrics. But Kerry Hennessy’s costumes, masks by Patrick Rubio and clever puppet design by Joyce Hutter keep things interesting even when the story gets lost.
Broadway to Vegas
April 15, 2007
Marionettes and Masks
By Laura Deni
In Los Angeles the Rogue Artists Ensemble is about to stage the world premiere adaptation of The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, the 1995 graphic novel by best-selling author Neil Gaiman and internationally acclaimed artist Dave McKean. Mr. Punch opens at Theatre/Theater on April 27 and continues through May 27. A puppet-themed art gallery with work from local artists and an antique puppet display sponsored by the Conservatory of Puppetry Arts and the Los Angeles Puppet Guild are included free with admission.
Don't confuse these puppets with your sock variety.
Original, with masks, life-size puppets and surreal, fantasy video images.
Mr. Punch is a dark fable where the innocence of childhood and the pain of adulthood collide in the oft-fragmented recesses of memory, blurring the line between what is a puppet show and what is real life. Sent to stay with his grandfather at the old man's failing seaside arcade, a young boy encounters a sinister Punch and Judy man with a mysterious past. Trapped in a world of ghost trains, mermaid shows and storytellers, the boy sees and hears dark dealings that will haunt him for life.
"Audience members will feel as though they've opened up the graphic novel and wound up trapped deep inside," says Rogue Artistic Director Sean T. Cawelti, who also directs. "Through the use of uniquely beautiful and distinctive masks, puppets and projected media, Mr. Punch creates true Rogue Hyper-theatrical magic."
Not for small children, "this production is told through the eyes of ’the Boy’, our central character, we explore the twisted nature of memory, the cruelty of adults, and the beauty of simple kindness."
Rogue Artists Ensemble differs from other local theater companies primarily because it’s run by a collective of artists and designers. The ensemble collaborates with outside companies and other artists to create "Hyper-theater," an innovative hybrid of theater traditions, puppetry and digital media that cultivates a unique audience experience.
Bringing Mr. Punch to life on stage is a design team that includes Rogue ensemble members Joyce Hutter (Puppet Design), Pat Rubio (Mask Design), Kerry Hennessy (Costume Design), Patrick Heyn (Video Design), Mel Domingo (Lighting Design), Nate Hodges (Choreography), Ben Phelps (Original Music Score), and special guest collaborators Joel Daavid (Scenic Design) and Brian White (Illustration and Video Design).
The cast includes Tom Ashworth, Sterling Beaumon, Eric Fagundes, Leslie Gray, Dana Kelly, Dalton O'Dell, Lucas Salazar, Nina Silver, Miles Taber and Cari Turley.
A life long puppeteer and creative force, designer/director Sean T. Cawelti serves as artistic director for Rogue Artists Ensemble. Cawelti has designed puppets and masks for Cornerstone Theatre Company, International City Theater, The Rude Guerrilla Theater, Opera Pacific, NYU and many others. A graduate of UC Irvine, where he received his BA in Drama with honors in Stage Direction, Cawelti studied puppetry at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. He is the recipient of a Puppeteers of America 2003 National Festival scholarship.
Celebrating National Day of Puppetry on April 28, the Rogue Artists Ensemble and Theatre/Theater will offer free, kid-friendly puppetry workshops as well as a kid-friendly version of Mr. Punch in conjunction with the LA Puppet Guild and Conservatory of Puppetry Arts (COPA). The Conservatory of Puppetry Arts is dedicated to promote, to preserve and to advance the international art of puppetry.
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