Paperhand Puppet Intervention

Paperhand Puppet Intervention is best described as the lovechild of the “Pink Elephants on Parade” part of Disney’s Dumbo and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, if it was nannied by Studio Ghibli. And I mean that in the best possible way.

Where Our Spirits Reside was the final show of twenty-seven. Paperhand Puppet Intervention, a company based in Saxapahaw, NC, came to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh as the final destination on the show’s tour. I was lucky enough to get seats for the Sunday night showing; the very last time these puppets would grace the stage for this performance. I had little to no expectations going into this event, but if I’d had any at all, it would have blown them out of the water.

First and foremost, I want to say that the craftsmanship, artistry, and sheer talent embodied by every one of the actors and puppets on stage was nothing short of astounding. Breaking all known laws of physics, towering high above our heads and reaching wider than we thought possible, these Ghibli-esque puppets of spirits and trees and people and straw-creatures are a marvel.

The story itself is not a difficult one to follow. The first act saw a woman asking for mother nature to take away her sorrow, and encouraging the audience to return to nature and our “original shared ancestors” for solace. African motifs showed strongly through song, visual design, and the representation of the animal-headed spirits. Every single thing on stage, from the weeping woman to the butterflies to the trees, sported a black human face. Clearly, black culture is deeply intertwined into the productions of Paperhand.

While the first act told us to seek out our spirits, the second act suggested that these spirits may very well reside in us. We heard stories of people recounting memories of their lost loved ones – grandmothers, grandpas, fathers – and the places where they feel their memory the strongest. A young Irish-Catholic woman recalls her grandmother’s soda bread recipe, and the smell of her kitchen. A man who loved fishing with his father goes to the privacy of the river to openly grieve his loss. In each case, we saw the individual delivering the monologue being followed by a puppet of their loved one – an ethereal face, with blue gauzy fabric drifting behind them like a ghost’s tail.

Ultimately, any onlooker can easily conclude that spirits reside in our memories. As the talented main singer so eloquently put it, Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone. Nothing truly dies; everything is repurposed and remains, in one way or another.

But, of course, if any of the main acts would have confused the audience, the extremely on-the-nose transitional songs would nail home the theme. My personal favorite, “Break It Down,” saw a mushroom breakdancing on stage while someone rapped about mycelium and decomposition. In all honesty, it sounded like a project a group of middle school kids might have submitted to their biology teacher after being asked to make a video explaining the role of decomposers in an ecosystem. I mean, they literally used the phrase “returning nutrients to the soil,” and urged us to “forget Mario, be a toadstool.” Absolutely hilarious, but it was almost too educational to be truly meaningful.

And, the company couldn’t include “intervention” as part of their name without some kind of preachy, socially-critical commentary in the show. A single piece with dancing scissors about “cutting ties” and “seizing our scissors” in order to get rid of unjust justice systems, corporations, deforestation, plastic nations, pipelines, private banks, and straightening hair. While as a slam poem the rhyming and clever wordplay were powerful rhetorical tools of challenging the status quo, it felt remarkably out of place in a show about spirits and memories; I mean, even the mushroom rap contributed to the cyclical nature of death and rebirth. The scissor song was just a shoehorned attempt to appeal to the counterculture crowd.

All in all, the show was wonderful. Beautifully crafted, with a meaningful message conveyed via surrealist imagery. But do yourself a favor and get high before you go; not only will it heighten your capability to understand the messages and imagery, but you’ll also have a hell of a good time.

---Delaney Guidi