First off, it must be said that the show that was supposed to perform this afternoon had bad luck with their puppet shipping, so a replacement show was found; Entertaining a Thought was supposed to be seen tomorrow, so the two shows did a swap of timetables.

Entertaining a Thought was performed in the Student Centre ballroom, by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph (also known as the puppeteer for Abby Cadabby on Sesame St). The set consisted of recycled objects on stage left - cardboard boxes, a sheet, some other junk - crafted to look like a kids’ fort/pirate ship. Stage right were some chairs and a blanket, to make it appear like a bed. 

The puppets are a range of sock, mouth, and what some people define as ‘bunraku‘ - a puppet worn on the body, whilst operating the mouth and arm/s by rods - along with a bit of object theatre. The show also uses prerecorded video, projected on the boxes/ship. The video provided both a moment of distraction during puppet/costume changes, as well as some additional exposition on the story. The puppets are well-designed (and made), especially the sock puppet ‘Lolly’, who’s mouth movements create some hilarious expressions.

Carrara-Rudolph is visible on stage for most of the time - except for a few moments with ‘Lolly’ standing on the ship’s bow - and when operating her pseudo-bunraku puppets. She wears a plain black long-sleeved top and pajama pants; all to match the theme of not being able to fall asleep because of the following plot:

The plot itself is a mishmash - a complementary and flowing mishmash - of explorations on imagination, the mind, being one’s self, and enjoying life. As an example, there was a song with a fairy godmother ‘lamb’ that discussed taking the bad with the good, whilst also teaching the colours of the rainbow. There was lots of breaking the fourth wall and some adult jokes sprinkled throughout; along with plenty that kids would just lap up with a spoon like melted ice-cream (ok, it’s hot and I’m hungry, but the metaphor still works), and I can imagine parents and teachers would flock to this show. There are many songs, performed live by Carrara-Rudolph and her pianist, which seem a little quiet in the midst of the chaotic fun of the rest of the show; but it’s hard to pay attention too much to that, seeing as how Carrara-Rudolph’s voice is very good.

This is an odd show to discuss; personally, I wouldn’t categorise it as puppetry. This seems more like a vehicle for showing off Carrara-Rudolph’s skills as a character actor and improviser. That’s not an insult: she does a short song at the end, almost like Lamb Chop’s Yes, I can song, where she does one word in her own voice, and the next in her puppet’s - for a whole line. She doesn’t drop either or get confused, and anyone who’s performed before knows just how difficult it can be to get that split characterisation down pat. But actually, the show instead reminds me of something I read recently by my friend Daniel. He wrote on the concept of genre labelling in TV, and notes that ‘drama’ or ‘comedy’ does not describe a piece of writing well enough; that is, that dramas often have humour in them, and that comedy has drama in them, and that quite often there are all sorts of nuance and shades of grey in between.

In this case, the label of ‘puppetry’ on Entertaining a Thought isn’t sufficient; the play is all at once puppetry, comedy, cabaret, improvisation, a children’s show, an adult’s show (although predominantly for kids), and a showcase for Carrara-Rudolph’s skills. It is the last one that makes this - for me - less of a puppet show and more of a cabaret show. But that’s not a disadvantage.

This show received a standing ovation, and though personally I didn’t enjoy it enough to give it one myself, I can finally agree with my fellow audience members: it was deserving of a lot of appreciation. The show has wit, craziness, fun, oddball and interesting characters, and funnily enough one other thing: themes that actually did make me feel more positive about life after seeing the show.

This show was fun, witty, well-performed, and despite its chaotic appearance (and I must say, some of the scene transitions could use a little polish), it’s actually structured with thought. I found out later on in the day that this was actually the first time the show was ever performed, and Carrara-Rudolph had been working on it for six years. I give it: