The New York Times: Puppets are hardly a novelty on New York stages, but I’ll bet you’ve never seen one representing a talking, singing toilet plunger, have you?
Strange to say, that’s not the oddest moment in “Made in China,” an all-puppet musical that blends an unlikely romance between two lonely souls stranded in middle age with pointed commentary on the ties between America’s voracious consumerism and human rights abuses in China.
2 comments:
I was skeptical reading the initial paragraphs of the "Made in China" review. It doesn't seem like constructive, thoughtful observations can be made on child labor in China while a puppet plunger sings augmented Christmas carols in combination with human and canine nudity. But the review was kind. I suppose puppetry is the perfect medium for this type of absurdity, however, which further includes singing guns and a duet between Chairman Mao and Uncle Sam (to name a few quirks). Combining this absurdity, the playful nature of puppetry in general, and the campiness of musical theatre to make a political statement must be difficult and risky, but maybe it's also a safe way to say something controversial. While we can all agree child labor is terrible, not everyone wants to hear it. The crude humor can be more digestible for audiences to consider a political message, although it's certainly unconventional.
It's interesting to see what direction a production takes on how to tackle addressing a harsh subject matter like abusive child labor in China. What seems to differentiate this piece from preexisting works of similar themes, this production takes a very absurdly comical style for conveying it's message. I would like to see how their elements of traditional Japanese puppetry styles, including the tradition of the Japanese bunraku, are implemented into the show alongside the other contrasting elements of the show such as the surrealistic comedy, puppet nudity, and merry musical numbers. From this article it seems that perhaps the structure of the script was weak in comparison to the high value puppets, and it would be interesting to read another review of "Made in China" from a different perspective to see if they also would agree with the Isherwood here on the claim that the appealing visuals compensated in entertainment that wasn't supported by the confusing storyline.
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