“Are there going to be hula hoops?”

That was my companion’s hopeful, sotto voce inquiry as we were politely shuffled into the Loeb Drama Center on Wednesday evening.  I was pleased to tell him that I wasn’t sure what this production of Aurélia’s Oratorio had in store for us, but I knew it was going to be one of a kind.  I was devastated when I missed the first visit of Aurélia Thierrée and Jaime Martinez, the dramatic duo that breathed life into this piece earlier in the season, so when I heard that the drama-come-dance-production-come-circus-act was returning to the A.R.T., I was very pleased.

We didn’t see any hula hoops, but the variety and complexity of fantastical acrobatics was so impressive, believe me, you hardly missed them.  Conceptualized by Thierrée, along with her mother, Victoria Thierrée Chaplin, youngest daughter of famed actor-magician Charlie Chaplin, Aurélia’s Oratorio went beyond the world of reality into a fantastic world where nothing is as it seems.  With hardly a word spoken throughout, the movements and unique musical arrangements (Chaplin teamed up with Paolo Barucchi for the sound design, it was brilliant) told a complex story that was different for each audience member, but left everyone utterly speechless.  There are a fantastic variety of topics I could cover throughout the production- from the acrobatic work (wow!), to the beautiful dancing and costumes, but I am going to focus on what I found to be the most mesmerizing aspect of the production, the puppetry work.

Perhaps you might not know that I specialized in puppetry while doing my master’s degree work at Emerson, but since my very first class there (hoping to quell a life-long unreasonable fear of marionettes) I was hooked on the variety and intricacies in the world of puppetry.  Aurélia’s Oratorio used several facets of the puppetry world- shadow show, large scale-multiple operated puppets, Punch and Judy style hand puppets, and even “found object puppetry”.  Curtains, coats, scarves, and bells all took on human forms and transformed the audience’s view more magically than a cast of humans ever could.  Even the curtains themselves became puppets in an intricate mating dance that produced an adorable “baby curtain” later in the production (I’m not kidding, a few audience members even said, “awww”.) A stand-out puppetry scene was done as a dream sequence where layers of fabric, cardboard, glitter and gauze created a dream world where Aurélia was simultaneously frightened and comforted into sleep.  The puppetry work was seamless- each puppeteer was fully hidden and completely invested.  It felt exciting and at the same time eerie and surreal to see these huge creations of fabric come to life and interact with the characters on stage.

Another brilliant and exciting bit of puppetry work came later in the show, when Aurélia was kidnapped and attacked by an obsessed flock of hand puppets.  The puppeteers were really at their best here, totally obscured and yet able to portray an ominous evil that was truly unnerving (and made me doubt if I really was over my puppet phobia!)

The production, which runs for another week and a half, is appropriate for all ages, but don’t let that sway you into thinking it is a kid’s show.  The multi-layering of the piece makes it even more appropriate for adults, and I recommend it for any family looking for a way to dodge the ominous humidity that has been creeping over Beantown, of late.

This show is a great end cap for a fantastic season at the A.R.T.  Fall brings The Donkey Show, the kick off to a season of Shakespeare- I’m really looking forward to it!

Shadow Puppet Dream Sequence