Upon entering the theatre space constructed at Champions Australian Racing Museum, we were confronted with an elderly man asleep in a bed. With such a sight greeting us, we knew that Black Hole Theatre have put together an intriguing show that goes beyond a standard puppet performance.
Described as “a black comedy inspired by Hieronymous Bosch’s triptych – The Garden of Earthly Delights”, the show was certainly dark in tone. However a silent, although enthralled, audience at the opening night performance seemed to bring the comedic part into question. Although reflecting upon the show later, I can see that it contained some subtle elements that could be considered humourous and I’m sure that I missed quite a lot of the other “jokes”.
The majority of the action took place on the previously mentioned bed. The elderly gent was joined by a younger man and woman who seemed to be this gent’s children. The woman went about caring for the invalid man in a rough manner which enforced the dark overtones of the show. One moment where the woman snatched away some plastic dinosaurs that the elderly man played with on the bed seemed to be a cheeky comment on the Creationists attempts to censor the views of the Evolutionists.
Like Bosch’s work of art, the puppetry component of the show was divided into 3 parts. The first part was Ecclesia’s paradise which involved the elderly man’s ingenious use of a bag of bones to create creatures that frolicked in the garden.
The triptych’s panel representing Paradise (Garden of Eden) was the next part of the show. Extracting a small doll from a bedpan, the story of Adam and Eve began by the old man. Much like a charlatan Painless Surgeon, the Eve doll was pulled from the rib of Adam and the dolls were handed to the younger man and woman who performed the remainder of this biblical story.
The final section turned Bosch’s image of Hell on its’ head. A plucked headless chicken wearing sneakers (a reference to Bosch’s Bird Headed Monster perhaps?) danced about the bed to The Blue Danube Waltz as the elderly man slept. This was a much welcomed lightening of the shows’ tone and brought forth smiles and chuckles.
No dialog was spoken by the performers, instead a prerecorded voice of a young girl could be heard telling her erroneous version of Creationism. This girl’s monologue probably contained comedy gold but due to the low volume and a lack of clarity in the recording, I could only catch the odd snippet. To the side of the stage stood a small monitor which showed a panning view of Bosch’s triptych, but it was located too far from the main action so this visual was merely a distraction.
Although I didn’t find In The Beginning… to be the highly amusing show that I had expected, it was a thought provoking and enjoyable experience. The puppetry was expertly performed and was tied in seamlessly to the live action happening around it. If you are well schooled in either Theology or Bosch, you will be able to extract more from this show than myself.
For further information on Black Hole Theatre, visit www.blackholetheatre.com.au