Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Tortoise in a Nutshell’s gorgeously detailed FERAL creatively combines puppetry and cinema

• By drediman
• June 3, 2019
• No Comments

Tortoise in a Nutshell’s “Feral”, a Brits Off Broadway offering at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Amy Downes.

Over at 59E59 Theaters (as part of its Brits Off-Broadway series), you’ll be able to catch Scottish troupe Tortoise in a Nutshell’s production of Feral, a gorgeously detailed little show that encompasses both puppet theater and cinema. The piece tells the story of a young man who returns to his hometown. On the surface, all is well in the seemingly charming town. But upon closer inspection, it slowly becomes evident that the community is corroding from the inside. Indeed, the show ends with the town’s demise, complete with widespread vandalism and riots.

Attaining just the right balance between commerce, culture, gentrification, and social welfare is a challenge that almost all communities face. This fragile municipal ecosystem is depicted with great sensitivity and scrappy creativity by the folks at Tortoise in a Nutshell, which they’ve achieved by essentially filming tiny puppets on a mini onstage movie set. Part of the pleasure of such a piece is the opportunity to observe not only the puppeteers/filmmakers at work, but also to simultaneously take in the cinematic final product, which is projected above the “film set”.

I’m not totally alien to this very niche sub-genre of theatre. Chicago’s Manual Cinema has deployed the same tools to approximately the same effect. If Feral, which has been directed with care and wit by Ross MacKay, doesn’t quite achieve the same level of poetry as Manual Cinema’s best works, I’m still impressed by the company’s distinctive aesthetic and the amount of loving detail that has apparently gone into the piece’s creation (the scenic design is credited to Amelia Bird). Considering that the show is wordless, I would also like to applaud Jim Harbourne’s beguiling soundtrack (i.e., original music and sound design), which goes a long way in providing considerable atmosphere and personality to the storytelling.

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FERAL
Off-Broadway, Performance
Brits Off-Broadway Festival / 59E59 Theaters
55 minutes (without an intermission)
Through June 9