Puppetry strictly for adults is a rare sight, but Waste of Paint Productions present a dark, atmospheric piece of theatre not suitable for children. The performance has three main components. Firstly, a radio broadcast contextualises the action on stage, explaining the setting and the plot. The second component is the mimed interaction between two large bloated characters, which are a crossbreed of mask and puppet. The head of the puppet is held in front of the performers’ face whilst the puppets bodies are strapped around their own. This method effectively produces characters with contrasting features; however, design flaws became evident as the puppeteers, unable to see, held the heads at an unnatural angle leading to the puppets’ lines of sight not always being focused. This accumulated in the illusion of life in the puppets being occasionally broken. The third component is the mixture of live and recorded sound. A thudding heartbeat greets the audience as they are seated. This is then used in a well-executed physical theatre sequence, which shocks the audience into a state of tension, although this was not particularly relevant to the plot. Unfortunately after this came the awkwardly slow process of attaching the puppets to the puppeteers, hindering the atmosphere that had just been created. Inventive combinations of live instruments, for example a violin bow on a cymbal, recreated the tense atmosphere and sustained it effectively. The most powerful and impressive sensory experience is the cooking of bacon live on stage. This filled the theatre with a sickly meat smell, adding to the grotesquery of the piece. The combination of these components creates a powerful piece of theatre which leaves the viewer put off bacon (for a little while at least) and a slightly sick feeling at the back of the throat.At the end of the performance it was brought to the audience's attention this was a work-in-progress, which was not specified anywhere in the description or posters, and it certainly shows. However, this young company bring a chilling piece of puppetry theatre to Edinburgh Festival Fringe, proving that this emerging company has great potential.
