Low Down

'Baldanders' is the name of the creature in the cage who interacts aggressively with grotesque puppets as ulterior parts of himself. Outside the cage sits the two headed puppet-master with the puppet head challenging the authority of the real one. The whole thing is eerily lit with deep, shadowy reds: This is an original yet demanding piece of work.

Review

It begins with the master sitting in the dark. He starts to talk in different voices, then the lights come up, dimly revealing a hunched man with round black glasses and his pale, studious looking Siamese twin next to him. Then the curtain is lifted on the cage and we see another man sitting with a hideous, life-sized puppet of a woman with a red, bloody gash for a mouth and bare, plump breasts. There is also a tiny, worm-like finger puppet that jumps and crawls out of his pocket. T

hroughout, these frightening characters jibe and squabble about the nature of evil and their multi-faceted identities. The disturbing characters work in spite of the existentialist ramblings - if the character's words are incomprehensible, we can still gape at their physical grace and ferocity. The technical skill of the performers is excellent but there is no attempt at ventriloquism; thus the most effective parts are when one can't see the man. Instead, they shout right next to each others heads and we are forced to give them poetic licence, but you can't help wonder if the puppets would have been enhanced by ventruiloquism - or perhaps the point in not separating them was to show their closeness psychologically.

This is unique and engrossing theatre, but perhaps it is just a little clever for its own good. It is perhaps also too dark to make it satisfying, but then who says theatre should be?

Reviewed by FLM 12/8/08

Website : http://www.polishculture.org.uk