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‘A Comedical Tragedy for Mister Punch’ Program

An inside look at A COMEDICAL TRAGEDY FOR MISTER PUNCH

Here’s a preview of a few designs for the protagonists and puppets-turned-people in the upcoming world premiere of A COMEDICAL TRAGEDY FOR MISTER PUNCH!

JOEY

I haven’t named the dishes yet Master Punch! I suppose there are the plates, bowls, salad bowls, finger bowls,—

PUNCH

Did you say sausages?

JOEY

Oh no, sir. You see, I can’t say “sausages”

PUNCH

You just said it!

JOEY

Oh no, sir. I didn’t say “ it”. I said “sausages”.

Check out Joey the Clown, played by our very own Joey Steakley, and all the other puppets-turned-people in the world premiere this fall! Who can keep track! Bring us some sausages, sirs!

WOW! Check out these side-by-side costume and puppet renderings from our incredible designers Izumi Inaba (costumes) and Jesse Mooney-Bullock (puppets)! Carolyn Hoerdemann scales the Judy puppet up to life-size this fall!

“Ladies and gentlemen, how do you do? If you are all happy, me all happy too. Stop and hear my merry little play. If me make you laugh, me not make you pay.”

Company member Johnny Arena returns to the House, after his most recent appearance in Death and Harry Houdini, to bring the famed puppet Mister Punch to life as a human!

PIETRO

“I am an “exceptional”. That means that I can do something no one else can. So thereforeergothereuponthus: my mind is far above what your preformed brain can comprehend. For that matter, above what most humankind can comprehend. Which means alsothitherwhereforeto: I can be prone to unpredictable and unexplicable behavior. “

Meet Pietro (played by Adrian Danzig), the frugal, self-centered, and skilled Punch and Judy Puppet Master, and many others in A COMEDICAL TRAGEDY FOR MISTER PUNCH! When Pietro encounters Charlotte, a young orphan living on the streets, they form a business partnership. But when Charlotte starts changing the show, can Pietro keep up and step up?

CHARLOTTE

“Come one, come all, come short come tall, ‘tis time, dear Punch. Dear Punch, ‘tis time.”

As a young girl fending for herself, Charlotte (Sarah Cartwright) learns to be distrustful of the world around her. But when an Italian puppeteer takes her under his wing, can she find a way to trust again, in the world and in her imagination? Come watch Charlotte find her way through the charmed and dangerous world of Punch and Judy puppet shows in our newest world premiere A COMEDICAL TRAGEDY FOR MISTER PUNCH!

PIETRO

Mister Punch, he loves his audience. And his audience loves him, yes?

CHARLOTTE

Yes.

PIETRO

Then he only needs to win. Victory. He wins by killing everyone who gets in his way. The end.

Make sure you nab your tickets to this dark puppet-filled portrait of a prodigy in peril!

http://www.thehousetheatre.com/playsandevents/misterpunch

#TheHouseTheatre MisterPunch

The Revel Music Challenge!

American folk music is central to The Revel’s story and acts as a vehicle for the spirituality or love that is our characters’ religion. A defining feature of this musical genre is that it is constantly being reinvented and renewed.

So we have a challenge for you! It’s extremely fun! Pick up your instruments, raise your voices, and create your own interpretation. Record your cover and share it on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Tag The House Theatre of Chicago and we’ll enter you in a raffle to win music-inspired prizes! We've even included these chord charts from the show to get you started.

Not a musician, but still inspired? Share a link to any song that makes you feel spiritual, connected, or alive.

Add your artistry to this conversation and keep the love coming!

Sincerely,

The Good Folk at The House

#TheRevel #MusicChallenge

Inside The Revel Rehearsal

Last week I had a great time sitting in on a rehearsal for House Theatre’s upcoming show, The Revel. The play is a loose adaptation of one of my favorite Greek tragedies, The Bacchae. The story of The Revel takes place in two contrasting places: in the town where societal structure is maintained and up on the mountain where a bacchanal of spiritual renewal is in full swing! It’s a classic tale of the Apollonian drive vs. the Dionysian drive, or order vs. chaos. I was delighted to find that, even in the rehearsal, these contrasting drives not only existed, but they complimented each other.

Like all House rehearsals, the evening began with cast and crew circling up. Circle is a warm and inviting ritual that gives everyone a chance to connect as a team before getting down to work. Even I was invited to stand in the circle, laughing as the actors got a little horseplay out of their system and listening with rapt attention as Director Leslie Buxbaum Danzig described her vision for the evening. When the circle broke off, the chorus left to rehearse in a separate room while Leslie, Chris Mathews, and Mike Smith stayed to do some scene work.

As soon as the chorus left I felt the focus in the room sharpen. In the scene Peter (Chris Mathews) convinces the Sheriff (Mike Smith) to go up the mountain in an attempt to squash the growing anarchy of the revelers. Chris swirled around a small scaffold on wheels, meant to represent a mobile set piece, sometimes climbing on top of it and other times ducking below, as he roused the sheriff to action. Actors’ choices changed the scene markedly, making it a thrilling process to witness. The whole while, Stage Manager Brian DesGranges sat in the corner, taking meticulous notes on his laptop and ensuring that the rehearsal remained on task.

I slipped out of the main rehearsal to see what the chorus was up to. In The Revel, the chorus is made up of women so seduced by the Deacon’s promises of spiritual renewal that they abandon their town to revel up on the mountain. I found them rehearsing in the sun-soaked Palm Room. Made up of tall windows overlooking the city, the room is so bright that many revelers wore sunglasses! While the main rehearsal focused on scene work, this one felt more like a purposeful jam session, complete with banjo, guitar, two fiddles, and an upright bass! Musicians paired off, teaching each other verses and building new harmonies to compliment the score written by Composer Jess McIntosh. One reveler stood on a chair, another practiced her clogging steps, the others were whooping and excitedly beckoning to each other. The celebratory nature of the room was so infectious that I even found myself singing along to familiar verses and laughing out loud when someone took a great swig from their water bottle as if it was a jug of moonshine.

The energy of the room felt unstructured, but we could all tell that productive work was taking place. When Leslie dropped in, she was impressed with how well the choreography and songs were coming along. As I packed up to leave, I found myself in a dreamy state of mind, reflecting on how much focus and exploration rely on each other to make productive creative work possible.

#TheRevel

Bacchus and The Revel

Who is Bacchus?

Bacchus is the Roman name for Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, revelry, and theatre! You’ve probably seen him represented in pop culture as a jolly glutton, sloshing down glasses of wine, and having more fun than anyone else.

The Revel is playwright Damon Kiely’s re-interpretation of The Bacchae, a Greek tragedy in which Bacchus inspires the women of Thebes to abandon their boring lives to party with him up on the mountain. The women’s spirit of revelry enrages the King, whose attempts to control them ends in his ghastly death. In Damon’s version, the fate of the characters follow a more modern and sympathetic storyline.

Bacchus in Popular Culture

Here’s Bacchus represented in Disney’s Hercules, apparently spraying wine in Hercules’ face. That’s just how he rolls.

In Disney’s Fantasia, Bacchus is represented as a lush who rides a donkey (with a unicorn horn?) and is attended to by beautiful Zebra Centaurs. Living the dream.

Hedonismbot is a recurring character in the Comedy Central series, Futurama. He is a robot who serves as his own couch and is frequently pictured with a bowl of grapes, except when his devoted servant smears chocolate on his belly.

In Season Two of True Blood, character Maryanne is revealed to be a devotee of Dionysus. She drives the town to revelry and attempts to sacrifice a another character to awaken her god.

#TheRevel #Bacchus