The Table

"     Puppet masters pull the right strings on Navy Pier. This quite brilliant show explores the nature of empathy as it probes the outer limits of the suspension of disbelief. The puppet leads a demonstration as to how his manipulators are able to make you believe in him (it's mostly a matter of focus and consistency) and yet his personality seems to be able to survive the most brutal and absolute of dismemberings. A really terrific show, The Table is not to be missed by two distinct groups. One is the puppetry crowd, who'll appreciate the brilliance of this deconstruction of the long tradition of animating inanimate objects on stage and persuading audiences to empathize with their emotional crises about it not being easy to be green, or whatever. The other group, who might not think of going to this show on Navy Pier, is the crowd that likes upscale British comedy of the Eddie Izzard or Ricky Gervais or, gulp!, Russell Brand type. This is very much in that wheelhouse. The Table is a puppet show for those who hate such arty affairs, even (and here is what makes it so remarkable) as it also manages to be precisely the opposite for those who love them.”
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! No doubt about it: Blind Summit Theatre’s “The Table” is one of the more astonishing 70 minutes of theater, puppetry, philosophy, whimsy, mischief, eye-hand-brain coordination and total brilliance to be exported from London to Chicago in recent years. A billboard might proclaim: See Moses, that Old Testament prophet, hammer out the stone tablets, lead his people out of the desert and every once in a while break into zero gravity mode, or a moonwalk-style dance worthy of Michael Jackson. Learn every trick-of-the-trade you need to know about acting and puppetry technique in one whip-smart lesson. And oh, yes, be astonished and delighted, and laugh out loud. This show, at its core, is a perfect little explosion of existential euphoria.
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“Moses, in all his biblical glory, like you have never seen him… Oh, no my friend, this is not Charlton Heston parting the Red Sea but rather a 2 foot, part cardboard, part cloth, Japanese Bunraku puppet operated by gloriously the unique Blind  Summit artists who are here for a brief two week engagement. The Table is a fast moving, hilarious, even poignant 70 minute show where the art of puppetry is on full display. Mark Down (also the voice of Moses), Sean Garratt and Irena Stratieva all work together seamlessly, using every type of theatrical device available to them, including improv, movement, verse and imagination. It is a remarkable evening of performance art that further proves why the cultural exchange Chicago Shakespeare Theater gives us every year is so vital to our city.

“Incredible! Amazingly hysterical! I can guarantee you will laugh and you will forget all the problems of the day. It is only here for a short time, so I suggest you put this on your TO DO list.”

“Something original, droll, consistently humorous, sophisticated, occasionally poignant and immensely skillful, the puppetry in The Table resides in a niche of its own. The production consists of three operators manipulating a single puppet who stands maybe two feet high. The puppet consists of a hollow cardboard head atop a cloth body. The result is a show so deft and so fresh that the audience almost immediately is lulled into accepting the puppet as a human being and the operators as invisible.”

"      Astonishingly accomplished puppetry from the excellent Blind Summit."

Guardian Pick for Edinburgh Festival 2011
"Remarkable…Blind Summit prove once again that when you’re working in miniature you don’t have to think small"
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"Absolutely sublime, the best thing this excellent company has ever done."
"Front men of rock'n'roll puppetry."

"    HOT SHOW"  "Dazzling inventiveness and breakneck precision." 

"One of the funniest shows I saw on the Edinburgh Fringe last year."
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"As infectiously energetic as it is ingenious."

FRINGE FIRST WINNER
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