Tonight I witnessed a magic and wonderment I haven't experienced since I was a child. A time when the joy of the stage transported the mind to a place where anything could happen and the world itself ran on dreams. It sounds fanciful but I'm not exaggerating. The show I was able to see tonight was just that good.
The show I'm talking about is the Cashore Marionette show. It is a puppet show done by professional puppeteer Joseph Cashore, who has been working with this medium for many years.
What makes Joseph's approach different from other marionette shows is his emphasis on realism and fluid motion. By capturing the smallest details in our most subtle movements, he succeeded in creating puppets that truly fooled the eye, if even for a moment, into believe that it was alive. I watched a mother carry a fussy baby to a rocking chair and slowly rock it to sleep before laying it in a crib. I saw a boy play with a new kite only to be carried off by it. I witnessed a little girl ignore her homework in favor of playing with her toys. Mundane activities all, but what made them special was the movement of the characters. They embodied the souls of actual people, real humans who had gone through the same events. At one point even an elephant, trudging through the Amazon, came onto the stage, and just like the others, this one truly carried the spirit of the animal it mimicked.
By far my favorite scene was a hard rocker who simply jammed out heavy rock tunes on his guitar. As he danced around the stage, his amp began to smoke. He noticed it and with some kicking "fixed" the problem. Much to our (the audience's) amusement, as he went back to playing, the amp caught again before finally blowing to end the scene. The movements of the guitarist coupled with the music and overall atmosphere of the piece screamed lightheartedness at the audience and the response was a non-stop roar of happy laughter.
The show ended with...well I won't ruin it, but it was called the Quest, and it lasted about 3 or 4 minutes. Suffice to say it was one of the best finales to any stage piece I've ever seen. It summed up Joseph's mission and his passion while giving the audience a spectacle they could appreciate, all the while keeping with the lighthearted tune of the whole show.
In the span of about an hour and 45 minutes, I was brought through happiness and joy, sadness and despair, and through it all I realized that my emotions were being manipulated by the animation of these fake people. I believed the characters to be real, and I became sympathetic to their needs, their wants, and their lives. In this light I hope Cashore considers his performance a success tonight, because I certainly would.
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