A Puppet And A Table Earn Major Laughs At Chicago Shakespeare Theater

By Melody Udell in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 23, 2013 4:00PM

Blind Summit's production of The Table, now playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

The Table—part of Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s World’s Stage initiative—is a simply deceptive, jaunty new stage show consisting solely of a cantankerous puppet. Oh, and a table. Just a puppet and a table. And as this bunraku-style, gravel-voiced cardboard puppet will tell you, it might be a long night if you’re not a puppet fan or table enthusiast. But that’s just about the only thing that The Table gets wrong—this quaint, self-aware show has mass appeal, especially if you’re a fan of dry British humor with a touch of improv.

Put on by the Blind Summit Theatre, The Table came about thanks to the Jewish Community Center, which commissioned the UK-based theater group to tell the story of Moses’s last 12 hours. But Blind Summit doesn’t just re-enact the Biblical story using—you guessed it—a puppet and a table; the show delves into what makes puppetry work. Moses the puppet goes so far as to explain to the audience that he, in fact, is not alive but is only animated with the help of three puppeteers—Mark Down (who also provides his voice), Sean Garratt and Irena Stratieva. In a couple hilarious, meta-like moments, Moses even interacts with his puppeteers, chiding Garratt for taking a bathroom break and pausing his monologue to ask Stratieva, who controls the puppets’ feet, how she’s holding up. The trio of puppeteers can’t help but laugh at Moses’ antics, which just adds to the charm.

All throughout The Table, the audience isn’t asked to suspend disbelief—in fact, we take part in it. We know that Moses the puppet isn’t real, yet we have no trouble imagining the garden he’s planted on the table or the mountain he climbs after liberating the Jews. The magic of this brief, 70-minute show lies in the melding of audience and puppeteer—an audience member even gets a chance to help coordinate the puppet. It’s this type of non-traditional, inventive stage show that deserves a hearty welcome from the Chicago theater scene.

The Table plays through Sunday, Oct. 27 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand Ave., tickets available by phone at 312-595-5600 or online.