Puppet Up! - Uncensored

I really don’t like improv. I find it a bit of a yawn really as actors and comedians try to prove how funny they are by “instantaneously” coming up with a scene as if contribution from the audience is the first time those words have ever been said.  I do, however, love puppets! The more muppet-y the puppet, the better. So of course I couldn’t say no to the idea of seeing Henson Alternative’s Puppet Up! The idea of improv with puppets was just too interesting to pass up. I’m glad I didn’t pass because Puppet Up! was clever and wonderfully fun.

Part of that wonderful fun came from the “Uncensored” aspect of the show, where puppets swear like dock workers, even if they look benign. Part of the wonderful came from the charisma and relentless enthusiasm from co-creator, director and host Patrick Bristow who appears to genuinely enjoy his job. And the final part of wonderful came from a mostly fabulous cast. 

It’s an odd experience watching puppets on big video monitors when you can see the puppeteers on the stage in front of you.  The way this show works is just the same as any improv show. Actors are called out for scenes, the host asks the audiences for a location, a theme, or a character. The actors play out the scene and laughs ensue. Oh yes, but before they play out the scene they need to Puppet Up!, selecting one of eighty different puppets to perform. You have to hand it to this cast, not only are they able to do really entertaining and often very clever improv but they can do it through whichever character puppet they have chosen.

In addition to the improvised comedy there was also fabulous recreation of Jim Henson and Frank Oz classics such as “Java” and the hilarious “I’ve grown accustomed to your face”. These nostalgic interludes provided a delightful break from the cleverly devised scenes which stemmed from audience suggestions of “masturbating someone else in public”, “Tsunamis” and the most boringly named Bond villain ever, Michael, in the newest film “Salami goes to Neverland”.

Stand out performances came from Grant Baciocco and Colleen Smith who were both fabulous and seamlessly moved between characters and scenarios proving themselves to be excellent puppeteers and comic actors. One of the highlights of the night was a 20 second crash course in puppeteering given to an audience member, Keiran, who then had to play out a scene where he was interviewing for the job of “Death”.  There was comedy gold to be had in the fact that this volunteer really had no idea how to hold a puppet upright.

But for sheer creatively, the best part of the evening for was the finale, where the cast acted out the final scene from a fictional award winning art house film, titled by the audience “Toorak Wankers” (which became Tourette’s wankers due to a lack of understanding of accents) and set in a spa bath.  Immediately following the scene Bristow summoned three more actors to play the same scene as if they were the understudies. The third run through of this scene was then performed, gloriously, in the style of Sondheim, with original lyrics staying true to the improv tradition.

Puppet Up! is deliciously irreverent, delightfully off-colour and definitely NOT for the under 18 crowd.  

L.B. Bermingham