Creators: Andy Manjuck and Dorothy James
Composer:Eamon Fogarty
Beginning life as a five minute slam piece about a party where no one ever attends, Bill’s 44th has gradually expanded into an almost hour long show of puppetry, balloon play and silent story telling told to the accompaniment of a soundtrack composed by Eamon Fogarty.
The set and introductory music conjure up the impression of a morning TV programme where you can imagine guests coming in to sit on a sofa for an amiable chat with their hosts. It’s a perfect mood setter for a show that for the first twenty or so minutes seems like it could be the script of a lost Mr Bean episode.
Bill, a middle aged man with middle aged spread, worked by creators and puppeteers Andy Manjuck and Dorothy James, tries and fails to set the room up for his party, mixing punch, arranging balloons and unfurling banners with his name and age. But nobody comes. He gets tangled up in a phone cable while negotiating a video tape and a broken video recorder, and stages a mini version of his party with the balloons and dips. It’s the mix of comedy and melancholy that puppetry at its finest can achieve. Equal parts poignant and hilarious, the success of the production is shown by how much you share Bill’s pain and want his loneliness to end and his friends to arrive.
As the story develops, guests, welcome and unwelcome arrive, the party takes pleasant and unpleasant turns and Bill is taken back to birthday’s past. Some of this works, but at other times it feels like ideas are being stretched out and it is less about telling a story and more about showing what Manjuck, James and a third puppeteer, Jon Riddleberger, can do with puppets and balloons. Its still inventive and original enough to hold an audience’s attention, but it does feel as if it has been extended beyond its natural length and could benefit from being a little shorter and sharper in the second half.
Runs until 27 August2023 | Image: Richard Termine
The Reviews Hub Score
Puppet perfection - almost
