Cabaret Of Desire
Puppet shows one mostly thinks are for children, especially ones put on at very public places such as the DCA Chicago Theater. Blair Thomas & Company’s "Cabaret of Desire" lays those notions to rest when the clothes come off the sailor puppet in the odd little love story called "The Maiden, the Sailor and the Student."
The hour-long "Cabaret of Desire" is, above all, an experience of process. You see the puppeteers manipulating the puppets’ movements; you see them playing the instruments; you see them pulling the levers that move the puppets’ eyes and change the backdrops. You see it all happen in front of you - a kind of thespic sleight of hand, and you say to yourself "Wow, this is really imaginative. Kind of weird, but what the heck?"
Secondarily, "Cabaret of Desire" is about the thoughts, feelings and expressions of the great Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. The production is based on his letters, poems and pieces written for puppet show in the 1920s. Apparently Lorca was one of the few 20th-century artists who wrote for puppets. There is a tone of surrealist melancholy underlying it all, reflecting a man’s failing attempts to understand why he is who he is, and why his times were so confusing.
For me, the content of the nine or so short pieces that comprise the program are fairly ephemeral, far less important that the way they are presented, which is endlessly creative, arch, and all served up as if it were being delivered from a small traveling puppet wagon.
An example that makes the point is the piece titled "Buster Keaton’s Sroll." In it the title character takes out a knife and kills his four children - all of which look like him - and then embarks on a series of encounters with women, all of which leads to nowhere in particular. In linear terms one would have to say "huh?" In "Cabaret of Desire" terms it all seems funny in execution and perfectly reasonable in context. Once you accept the context.
My advice is don’t try to understand any of it, just let it wash over you.
The ringmaster behind this Cabaret is a tag team consisting of Blair Thomas, who was a founder of Redmoon Theater, and Sean Graney, whom "Chicago" magazine once identified as Chicago’s "Best" Avant-garde director. Together they have created an evening quite unlike one is likely to see elsewhere.
"Cabaret of Desire" plays at the Chicago DCA Theater’s Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph, through November 8. Wednesday and Thursday performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday shows are at 9 p.m. Tickets are $19 ($17 for seniors, $10 for students). 312-742-8407 or www.dcatheater.org.
