SHADOW PUPPETS? They expected me to haul my ass to some questionable downtown neighborhood in the middle of the night to watch shadow puppets? This had to be a joke. Not that I had any specific chip on my shoulder against shadow puppets — or silhouettes, as the pedantic like to refer to them. And if there was any theater in town I could trust to take a dubious concept (e.g., last season’s Morticians in Love) and transform it into a memorable evening of good, smart, and naughty fun, it was Annex. But, still — shadow puppets?
So there I was, Annex Theatre, at 11:00 p.m. The stage was stark, and except for the skeletal remains of the night’s earlier performance, it contained, exactly as I had prophesied, just a scrim, a light bulb, and a guy with a bunch of paper cutouts — namely Scot Augustson. To the right of this lackluster little setup stood, in plain view of the audience, seven of Seattle indie theater’s most familiar faces: Bret Fetzer, Tom Milwewski, Elizabeth Stetson, et al. — each with their own little flashlight and copy of the script.
With no fanfare whatsoever, the little troupe plunged right in. Each actor voiced a myriad of typical BrontË-esque characters — stern school mistresses, tubercular children, brave explorers, and wizened grandmothers — while eviscerating traditional Victorian mores with clusters of flying penises and asides that pitted classic BrontË characters against modern superheroes: Heathcliff vs. Captain Marvel, Cathy vs. Wonder Woman, all brought to life by Augustson’s clever shadow play. I had to admit I was enjoying this.
The success of Sgt. Rigsby not only lies in, but depends upon, the simplicity of the medium in which it is presented. Why bother with sets, props, wardrobe, or staging when the story can be told just as well — hell, BETTER — with a 50-watt bulb, a kindergarten art kit, and a little imagination? Toss in some terrific voice talent and a few penis jokes, and Sgt. Rigsby delivered the fun, smart, and naughty stuff Annex is famous for. And, I must admit, I left with a healthy new respect for the concept of shadow puppets. Excuse me — silhouettes.
