Bunk Puppets, 2011 Total Theatre Award winners, have returned to the Fringe this year with another devilishly ingenious production. Slapdash Galaxy is Jeff Atchem’s usual brand of one-man makeshift shadow puppet extravaganza, but this time we are told the story of two brothers who are forced to go on a fantastical journey into outer space. And, as Atchem assures us at the beginning, flickering colour dancing across his face from a torch held in his cupped hands, all of it is entirely true.
This eerie and beautiful opening sets the perfect tone as Atchem delves into the story. Gloves are donned with strange attachments which form brilliantly accurate projections on the screen, and Atchem throws the shadows right across the space as he uses audience members heads as strange planets inhabited by bizarre monsters.
It is, as always a delight to watch, and pleasingly this most recent production has far more emphasis on narrative than his past shows. The story helps to give context and greater depth to the puppetry, though it could perhaps have had a stronger arc and a touch more complexity to really heighten the experience.
The clue to the style of the piece is in its title – it’s quick and slapdash. At one point Atchem claims to have lost his dog puppet, so he picks up a piece of blank paper and tells us ‘this is a dog’. He then proceeds to crush it until it resembles that very thing, and the audience applaud in wonder as a dog appears on the screen. This works fantastically, but when he tried it again, this time to make an old woman, it took far longer, hampering the progression of the piece to the point where I was wondering if something had gone wrong.
There is also far more audience involvement in the piece than usual. Atchem even asks a man up onstage to operate some of the puppets. I imagine this works fantastically when he manages to pick someone with even the most basic sense of how an object should move. But sadly when I saw it he managed to pick someone without an ounce of understanding of puppetry or movement in general, and the audience member did an excellent job of messing up Atchem’s carefully arranged set pieces.
This haphazard style is all part of the show, but for me it detracted from what should have been the most important focus – the story – and consequently I didn’t get a rounded sense of satisfaction from the piece.
Still, these small details don’t detract from Atchem’s inspired and brilliant illusions – tricks that prove him well deserving of the Total Theatre Award for Innovation. The absolute highlight of the show was when he managed to manipulate smoke. Through the application of carefully aimed manual wind machines he is able to throw perfect smoke rigs across the stage. He even produces a neat column of smoke that surges towards the audience before dispersing around the front row. Such wonders – visual spectacles that provoke audible gasps from each member of the audience – are what prove Jeff Atchem to be a master puppeteer, forging new paths for the ancient artform. Long may he continue to do so.