Puppet Uprising Fringe Usurper
Published by Becky S August 29th, 2004 in arts, philadelphia
What is this? It’s what happens when you’re too scared to play Ukrainian Quizzo.
UPDATE: Yeah, J the Obscure and I are scared of Ukrainians and their hard trivia questions, but we are not scared of puppets. So we went to this weekend’s Puppet Uprising, held at the Rotunda in Philadelphia’s University City.
Sadly, I didn’t realize that fellow Philadelphia blogger Sam was also in attendance. I’m sorry we didn’t get to meet and share some WTF moments. Because there were a lot of WTF moments. Picture a middle-aged woman with long, flowing hair. But only on the right side of her head. “Hmmm,” I thought. “Someone with such a haircut must be very deep and artistic.”
Her show consisted of a tiny, tiny doll swaying back and forth to the tune of Ben. You know, the Jackson 5 song. As the last “like Ben” faded away, she took a bow, and that was it. I try to keep an open mind, but if any, uh, local hospitals are looking for a crazy-haired woman with a little doll, she was last seen in West Philly on Friday night.
The picture above is from “Fantasy Flicker,” a piece performed by New York’s Kate Brehm; it was fun to watch, even though I didn’t understand the deep meaning. Was there a deep meaning? How can a puppet show make me feel dumber than Ukrainian Quizzo? The best part of the night, however, was Puppets Revenge, who performed Amabantur Excerpts, a “toy-theatre version of Apuleius’ 110 A.D. tale of Eros and Psique.” Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley played the lead roles.
Overall, Puppet Uprising wasn’t what I expected (what exactly is the difference between a puppet and a doll?), but I’m glad we checked it out, since it’s a good warm-up for the upcoming Fringe Festival weirdness.
arts Philadelphia puppet
I thought I was attending a puppet uprising show. Was I dissapointed? Definetly.
I have a stong feeling that a majority of the men at the event didn’t find their time at this show wasted.
Why is the jellyfish eating that person? Is it because they set the other one on fire?
I thought it was a shot from the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, but I’m in full idiot-mode so nevermind.
Sam–what night did you go? I’ll be posting more details at lunch, but I was there on Friday. Some of the performances were great, but at least one was super weird.
Becky: I was there on Friday too. I just saw the barbie show and this jelly fish/low-budget-props one. I thought these jelly fish girls were going to electrocute themselves at some point during their “performance”. I think all artists should be adequately trained on the many ways one can get electrocuted.
So I was right! They are jellyfish!
I feel like I should have been there on Friday now, it was a regular Philly blogger’s hot spot!
Actually I came at the end of the weird haircut lady’s show. It was indeed a WTF moment. And I hear that there is a looney bin hospital about five or so blocks below the Rotunda, so its quite possible that there was a successful escape attempt on Friday night. As for Miss Kate Brehm, I am sure wearing skimpy clothes and bending over - over and over was to impart some philosophical message that I missed.
I am a bit uninformed as well, but I thought this Pupper Uprising people got arrested during the RNC held in Philly a few years back. So I wanted to see what bad things these puppets were capable of doing. I didn’t see any of that. Supposedly last night was a documentary about another non-puppet - a Southern trannie who is in a band. And other things about him/her.
Yeah, I remember the puppet masscre during the 2000 RNC here in Philly. Good times. I was never sure, however, if the people arrested were all from one puppet company or a mixture of puppeteer protesters from various organizations.
Sorry to hear the show made people feel ‘dumb’ It’s meant for people to take what they find interesting and leave the rest.
ANd if you think my ‘bending over’ is supposed to be philisophical then more power to ya.
mm, and i too think it seems like some sea creatures.
As for the 2000 RNC, the first act, Beth might have gotten arrested. You could see how dangerous she was.