The Table

The Play

Chicago Shakespeare Theater takes a leading role in the inaugural Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, presenting the return engagement Blind Summit’s The Table—the widely acclaimed production that played to sold-out houses last fall. Come meet Moses—a cantankerous puppet with a cardboard head immersed in an existential crisis on a table. Intended to be a theatrical interpretation of the biblical story of Moses, The Table is performed by a grizzled, crotchety old man—but the grumpy puppet narrator strays far from the planned storyline. Blind Summit, theatrical innovators who have created puppetry for Anthony Minghella, Complicité and Danny Boyle’s Olympic Opening Ceremony, presents epic puppetry drawing on the Japanese Bunraku style. Hilarious, beautiful and occasionally profound, it is performed completely on the table top with multiple, visible puppeteers who improvise and interact with each other and the audience. Blind Summit’s remarkable artists breathe poignant life into the character, revealing something of ourselves in the cardboard, wood and fabric creation onstage. As part of the development of a new work, Blind Summit will also showcase a work in progress exclusively for Chicago audiences on Fridays and Saturdays during the festival.