Pity, for a moment, the theatre reviewer. She wants to express thoughtful opinions about One Crabby, Two Crabby, Blue Crabby, New Crabby. But she wants the review to be interesting to someone who hasn't actually seen the play. So the logical thing would be to first explain what Linda Wigmore's new play is all about.
So. It's about this lady. And she has a friend who is a mitten puppet. And another friend (human) who also is friends with her mitten puppet. So she gets another mitten puppet friend. And they all, including the mitten puppets, drink too much. And they also have another friend who is a liquor inspector. Everyone goes to a psychiatrist.
Are you sensing my problem yet? I could explain this play until I was blue in the face. But it would give no sense of its utter originality or surprisingly quirky charm. Though my experience with mitten puppet theatre is scant, I am willing to bet that there's nothing else like One Crabby anywhere.
Given that it's hard to explain the play in the first place, it's doubly hard to explain why it works. It began its life as a stand up comedy routine for Wigmore and that's where the play starts. She is standing at the mic with her mitten puppet and they are trying to do a little routine. Wigmore makes no attempt to be a ventriloquist. Her lips are flapping away as she speaks for the puppet. So for about 30 seconds, you're saying “what the....” But then, oddly, it stops mattering.
Wigmore is absolutely straight-faced about this peculiar circumstance and it helps the audience buy the zany premise—and every other crazy thing that happens. When her friend JoJo (Joey Weale) comes along, he does exactly the same thing—same straight face, same oddly believable conversations with a mitten. When the mittens desert their friends, both Wigmore and Weale just use their unmittened hands for puppets. I know, I know—at this point you think that we've all flipped.
The action take place in two spots—a bar and the psychiatrist's office. Graham Putnam as the psychiatrist is at his bent best in this part…a little funny, a little creepy. And, at the bar, Yanik Richards as the bartender does the audience the big favour of being as incredulous as we are at the odd goings on. When Leonard the Liquor Inspector (Rob MacDonald) shows up, you just have to throw in the towel. Give in to his wacky concern for the mitten puppets! Just accept his goofy speech impediment! If you think too much about this play, you'll spoil the fun.
So is this a great work? No. There is no story (except for the shaggy dog ending, which I'll spoil in a minute). It feels more like a loosely woven series of sketches than a full work. And the jokes, which are fresh and funny, get a little stale after the first telling. But, with a little more work, this could be a bright and snappy production.
In the end, it transpires that the people are not really running the show—the puppets are. And for that inspired moment of truth about twenty-first century life, I am willing to forgive One Crabby its small problems.
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