‘A Twisty Intergalactic Spectacle’ @ Hip Pocket Theatre
Production photos by Shannon Atkinson Cahoone; graphic art by Lake Simons
—Jan Farrington
Maybe I should think twice before telling you to take your 6-to-12 kids to a show featuring a very sexy space traveler—but Hip Pocket Theatre’s A Twisty Intergalactic Spectacle is so much playful fun, I can’t resist. Good stuff for adults of all ages, the 6-to-12 bunch, and teens who’ve hung on to some of their inner child.
HPT’s 48th season opener is a collaboration with renowned puppeteer Basil Twist, known internationally for his incredibly imaginative work—not only for wonderful puppet characters, but for a realm of “abstract’ puppetry that adds a broad visual universe into the mix.
This is the first time Twist has created and directed a whole show for the company—”quite an honor,” said founder Johnny Simons on opening night. The results are a joy. Longtime HPT music director Joe Rogers wrote most of the music and lyrics. (The “Hang My Hat” song is a Harold Arlen re-do, and Johnny Simons wrote “Love Above All.”)
Rogers hands the songs off to the night’s featured performer, New York-based singer/actor/dancer Ken Ard (Broadway’s Cats, Jelly’s Last Jam, Smokey Joe’s Cafe), who narrates the action and—as the extremely shiny “Duke Love”— takes lead on most of the numbers. (Ard wrote the narration with contributions from Twist and Rogers, and Shelby Griffin adding the “Oprah” element mid-show.)
Twisty’s fast-moving one-hour story begins and ends in (where else?) Fort Worth, Texas. Duke Love (aka Duke 1K HOU VAN JE JE T’AIME) and the other denizens of his far-off sector of space have been watching our blue-marble planet for a long time…but now they’re worried, and have come to bring a message of love to calm the chaos and anger they’re seeing. In short, they’re answering “a planetary SOS” with a hopeful “We’re Here.”
And that’s about all I’m going to say about the plot, which is both cute and meaningful, with a message worth hearing—especially as we sit under some timeless Texas stars (and a bit of a moon), bopping and swaying to Rogers’ gentle piano and Ard’s silky song delivery. The Duke can work a room.
Puppets have been a part of Hip Pocket’s shows for many years—big puppets, itty puppets, and a few super-sized. Managing artistic director Lake Simons, who grew up in the theater with her co-founder parents Johnny and Diane Simons, is a noted puppeteer herself, with work at the center of many HPT productions.
The attention-grabbing puppetry in Twisty includes everything from mini- and maxi- space ships to a kick line of gold-lamé short folk, a hopped-up Milky Way, and a dancing trio of humanoid rod puppets whose heads are metallic trouble lights. Surprisingly expressive, those little round faces.
As usual, costume designer Susan Austin lets her imagination fly—I especially like Duke Love’s silvery-white togs (a collaboration from Austin, Ard and Twist), and her distinctive helmets for an audience participation bit. (Don’t worry, all space-nappings have a happy ending.) Lighting designer Nikki DeShea Smith produces a raft of interesting effects, and the Star-Trekky sound work (also from music director Rogers) keeps us amused. At the show’s end, the space ship’s beep-beeps began to sound plaintive, in fact: the ground crew was having a spot of trouble with the re-launch. It just added to the fun.
Thanks for coming to Cowtown, Basil Twist. We will take your intergalactic advice to heart—but could you leave the puppets?
WHEN: May 17-June 2, 2024
WHERE: Silver Creek Amphitheatre, 1950 Silver Creek Road, Fort Worth
WEB: hippocket.org
