Fish Clay Perspes
In this remarkable two-man puppetry show by Faulty Optic, we are plunged in and out of three distinct and totally strange micro-worlds. Starting in one man’s world as he battles to remove a giant fish from his head, we move to the panic-stricken workshop of a clay sculptor maniac and end in a puppet’s surrealist Perspex world constructed solely with marker pens and masking tape. The piece is so utterly abstract and, as the subtitle ‘Observations from an Unhinged Mind’ recommends, quite mad. Yet it is all devastatingly clear also. These creatures are cast within entirely nonsensical scenes and yet their narrative is irrefutably human. Though their stories suspend reality and convention, what lies beneath is a core of human feeling and emotion. We encounter man’s frustration, jealousy, ambition, anger, the desire for companionship and the comfort to be found from others.
This is a funny show. Through expertly witty use of the simplest means, we are invited to laugh at the absolute silliness that exists in human nature. Puppets physically spew yellow vomit at the stench of giant red fish, skinny wire framed men wrapped in white rags stand sleeping within piles of masking tape, rocking back and forth to the sounds of their snores, and hook nosed artists battle over a stand, moulding clay into abstract lumps of character with pins for eyes to the soundtrack of a panicky French accordion and violins.
But there is beauty too. After each scene, a stage to the side is illuminated where exists simple white wire figures, no larger than a sheet of A4. Here, these figures dance and fly, twist and turn around cotton wool-like material by the other puppeteer. Supposedly heaven, this place is one of calming sounds and feels almost therapeutic to experience. Indeed, the effects used in the show play a huge role in its success. Lighting and sound are used so imaginatively to create potently beautiful and euphonious feeling. They are a delight. However, if the piece falls down in anyway it would be the puppetry failing to coordinate and use lighting and music to optimum effect as movement often paid little regard to this which was, at times, disrupting. The show makes for indulgent, enjoyable viewing with Faulty Optic’s emotionally charged wit that runs through their seemingly senseless worlds.
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