Hanako, a feisty girl from Tokyo, encounters a Tengu, a bird-like goblin more mischievous than evil, on a bridge near a remote mountain village. She spits cherry pits and he slips on them, falling off the bridge. He comes after her again and steps on her kite. She pulls the string and he tumbles again. Confronted directly by the persistent goblin, she aims a couple of karate chops and he tumbles head over heels off the stage.
The children at the Thistle Theatre performance laughed and whooped. Everyone likes to see the bad guy bested. "That was the funniest part," said my friend Logan, age 7.
Hanako, the miserly Mr. Yama, Tengu and a scaredy-cat green "demon" named Oni are all Bunraku-style puppets. They are jointed figures, about a third of life size, manipulated using sticks attached to their arms and head by puppeteers dressed all in black with their faces covered. The puppet designer explained this to the children before the performance started, and had the puppeteers cover and uncover their faces. Then the manipulators were supposed to be "invisible," which they mostly were.
This is a tall tale in a 300-year-old Japanese tradition. Mr. Yama finds a cherry tree on his property, enjoys the fruit and refuses to share any with Hanako. He swallows one cherry pit, and a cherry tree grows out of his head, to later be pulled out by Tengu and Oni in a tug-of-war game. His head grows larger and larger, like a boulder and then a mountain, and a lake forms in the hollow in his head where the cherry tree roots were. You get it: suspend disbelief.
Part of the story is told on the back wall of the stage, using shadow puppets moving behind a translucent screen. "I didn't like the shadows on the screen so much; they were kind of boring and didn't show much color," Logan said. In adult terms, the device lacks immediacy and slows down the main action.
On the other hand, the last part of the story – after Hanako falls into the lake on Mr. Yama's head – is enhanced by the use of black-lit puppets and images painted on screens. Fanciful fish flit back and forth and a long sea serpent in fantastical colors chases after Hanako. "The glow-in-the-dark part was so cool," Logan said. It was indeed.
At the end of the 45-minute show the children get to touch many of the puppets and ask how they are made and manipulated.
This fun piece of unusual theatre is best suited for ages 4 to 7. Logan noted that there a couple of bits of total darkness that are "kind of scary" and that the really little children in the row in front of us were clinging to their mothers during some of the parts. For anyone over 4, the sweet, feisty little girl is a great role model and the "monsters" are more bumbling than scary – lovable in their inept way.
Wenda Reed is a Bothell writer and theatre-lover. Logan Jones is a student at Bear Creek School and lives in Bothell.
IF YOU GO
Where: Thistle Theatre will perform March 10 and 11 at Magnuson Park Theatre, Building #47, 7120 62nd Ave. N.E., Seattle; and March 16 through 18 at Sunset Hill Community Club, 3003 N.W. 66th St., Seattle.
When: March 10 and 11 at 1 and 3 p.m., March 16 at 7:30 p.m., March 17 and 18 at 1 and 3 p.m.
Admission: Adults $9, children and seniors $8.
Coming up next: Goldilocks and the Three Bears (with 50s music) May 4 through 26.
Contact: 206-524-3388; www.thistletheatre.org.
Wenda Reed is a Bothell writer and theatre-lover. Logan Jones is a student at Bear Creek School and lives in Bothell.
