Plastic bags, flashlights, a white canvas, and Day-Glo bendy straws become the portal to a subterranean world in dungeon, an imaginative puppetry piece currently playing at the New York International Fringe Festival. Presented by Artistic Abandon NYC in association with Hit the Lights, Dad Theater Co., dungeon uses the simple premise of a man's search for his sister to create a dark and fantastical world.
Created collaboratively by the six members of Hit the Lights, Dad, dungeon centers on a young man (Kristopher Dean) who goes after his sister when she disappears down a mysterious hole in the ground. The man must navigate the labyrinthine surroundings to rejoin his sister and leave the dungeon, conquering obstacles at every turn and encountering such mystical beings as a friendly Tinker Bell-esque light, jellyfish-like creatures, and a malevolent spider.
With such a simple premise and very little dialogue (save for a few spoken lines and some not infrequent screams), the piece relies heavily on its visuals. The handmade effects combine shadow puppetry and three-dimensional scenes brought to life by the five human performers and everyday objects. All of this is done in complete darkness, with no lighting other than the illumination of the shadow puppetry onto a white canvas and small, handheld lights incorporated as set pieces and characters throughout the show. The disorienting lighting and simple props transcend their modest nature and transform the stage into the dungeon’s enigmatic environment; the small lights necessitate tightly focused tableaus that make the space feel believably confined, while the imaginative recycling of everyday pieces fills the mysterious setting with a sense of vast possibility. The music, performed by onstage electric and bass guitars, immerses us even further, intensifying dangerous situations and adding a simultaneously ominous and enticing tone to the proceedings.
The aesthetic creativity also makes for some striking displays. A pool of water made from a rippling plastic sheet backlit by colored lights is particularly lovely, and the villainous spider feels menacing even as just a shadow (especially with the bluesy bass refrain that accompanies its appearances). There’s nothing terribly polished about these effects—the shadow puppets seem loosely arranged on the large white screen and silhouettes of hands holding up the puppets are on full view. But this roughness around the edges fits in with the show’s handmade quality and never distracts from the world being created onstage.
With an almost distractingly thin plot and no obvious direction to the man's journey (a map is helpfully provided in the program, but there's no straightforward course), the piece’s effects do feel at times like they exist solely to be aesthetically pleasing, rather than to actually further the dramatic action. But with such enjoyable creativity on display, ultimately it’s hard to care. dungeon may not offer many dramatic insights, but its ability to transcend its small scale and limited resources make a trip to this underground labyrinth well worth your time.
