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Philadelphia is blessed with a remarkable little theater, off the radar to many, tucked in a corner of Old City, practically smack up against the wall of I-95. Mum Puppettheatre has taken the tiny proscenium of what we think of with puppet theater and blown it wide open. You, the audience, are now in and very much a part of that performance space.

Their latest production, The Master and Margarita, is staged with the dramatic play at both ends of the room as well as back and forth through the middle of the space, with the audience lining the walls. The stagecraft, the acting, the puppet craft and puppeteering were all top notch and a delight to experience.

The story, from Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel of the same name, promised much but left me wanting. Wanting to feel anything for the characters, wanting to explore anything that might open itself up to considering further when observing characters like Jesus and Pontius Pilate in conversation. Instead, they talked at each other and therefore at the audience. The fault was not with the puppets or those who controlled them. The fault was with the script. It did not engage, or challenge, or draw you in.

We left buoyed by what the craft of puppet theater can do, but looking forward to a future play at Mum with a script worthy of their skills and talents.

Mum Puppettheatre
115 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-7686
www.mumpuppet.org