Grief is a complex emotion. There is no proper way to experience it. No timeline for it. It’s as unique as the person going through it and their expression of it. In Puppet Man, writer-director Andrew Fuchs brilliantly and tenderly puts grief on center stage.
Sal is a 70-something puppeteer. Before his next show, we see him standing on the street when his phone rings. The conversation is unpleasant, and you can immediately feel he’s having a hard time in life. As the audience settles and gets ready to view his performance (with great skepticism), they are asked to turn off their cell phones.
The curtain raises and Sal and his puppets go to work. While Sal delivers lines, a phone rings in the theater. It’s his phone, and the voice on the other end is his ex-wife, Gail. What happened next had the audience and me in complete silence. With everyone listening, Sal and Gail have a heartbreaking conversation about the demise of their relationship, during which Sal goes through the many stages of grief.
Not wanting things to be over, Sal pleads and begs while Gail tells him repeatedly how he failed, and she doesn’t want him anymore. It’s painful. It’s personal. And it’s part of the show. Though the audience can’t see, as a viewer, you’re privy to the woman off-stage reading Gail’s lines into a microphone. When the performance is over, the audience responds with a roaring applause and standing ovation, completely overtaken by what they’ve witnessed.
Puppet Man is a tragic story that demonstrates the effect grief, and trauma can have on someone not ready to move on. Through his puppets, Sal relives a terrible moment over and over again because he loves and misses his ex-wife. He’s continually grieving that relationship and is not ready to take the last step toward acceptance.
Pouring all his feelings into his art, Sal represents many who feel that pain is all they have left. If they let it go, what will happen to them? Fuchs’ story is a reminder that grief is not simple and can be all-consuming. But there can also be beauty in the pain through expression and art.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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