It’s the end of the world, and only an art gallery remains.
Art for the End Times is a show with puppets. But it isn’t just a puppet show. It’s a touching tribute to art itself, one that skillfully balances both comedy and genuine emotion into its dense one-hour runtime.
Developed by Highly Strung, a creative team comprised of Sydney University Dramatic Society veterans Oliver Durbidge and Tom Hetherington-Welch, Art for the End Times examines the nature and importance of art, by imagining the role it would play in a post-apocalyptic world.
The main stars of Art for the End Times are the puppets. What stands out is how unique they all are — the puppet cast is a hodgepodge of authentic wooden figures from the 70s and modern creations that have been pieced together with everyday items. The intimate space of the downstairs theatre at 107 Redfern meant that the audience got to really share the space with these puppets, and be able to fully appreciate the creativity of their professional-level designs and workings. Being up close to them and seeing how they walked, talked and reacted to the events around them is such a special and unique experience that you don’t get from watching puppetry on a screen or from afar.
Art for the End Times is held together by a strong cast of six. Jack Curry stars as the Curator, the embattled curator of a ragtag art gallery, who creates and attempts to teach the young Roderick (brought to life by Stella Klironomakis) what art is, what it means to create art and why it matters. Their dynamic is the glue that holds the show together, providing much of its laughter and emotional weight.
Curry is hilarious as the ever-exasperated Curator, while Klironomakis is great at nailing Roderick’s childlike quirks, without resorting to the trite characterisation that sometimes comes with actors playing children. It also helps that Roderick is an absolutely adorable puppet. The remaining four performers – Amelie James-Power, Jeremy Jenkins, Sophia Morrison and Kobi Taylor-Forder – make up the ensemble, and ably bring to life supporting characters and puppets of their own.
Video plays a key role throughout the production. The Curator has Roderick watch a series of ads from the past to understand art and the world, which are projected onto the back of the stage. I won’t give much away –– part of the joy of the show is having your mind boggled by these increasingly hilarious and surreal segments — but they left the audience roaring with laughter. This is a testament both to the creative team and Jim Bradshaw’s expert videography, which captures the lucid nature of these ads with kaleidoscopic colours, sharp contrasts and shots that perfectly mimic well-known tropes. A standout would have to be a trailer for ‘Lego: The Muppets: Civil War,’ which saw a Lego Beaker take the place of actor-turned-assassin John Wilkes Booth and assassinate Lego Abraham Lincoln. The audience was in stitches.
As a result of these segments, much of the play moves at an almost frenetic pace, as it lurches from one pop culture reference to another, not dissimilar from Everything Everywhere All at Once. This is thankfully balanced out by the show’s slower and heartfelt moments, which are given the space to be genuine, compared to the flashy, glossy segments of the ads.
It was also interesting watching how the production interrogated the intersection between art and capitalism. The vapid advertisements — which promote everything from sugar-filled cereals to parodies of shameless Hollywood crossovers — are regularly referred to as art throughout the production, and this is never really challenged by any of the characters. Is it the end of the world if we start calling ads art? What does it say if the only remaining art is a series of taped ads? Or is it that art should reflect the world, and that the chaos and consumerism of ads hauntingly reflects that? I wasn’t entirely sure what point was being made, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It was the ambiguity of some of these themes that left me thinking about and analysing the show the day after.
Art for the End Times is one of the most unique shows currently playing in Sydney. It is worth watching for the puppets alone — but the Highly Strung team have come together to create a work that is sharp, heartwarming and unapologetically unpretentious.
Art for the End Times will be playing at 107 Redfern until Sunday 24 March. Tickets are available here.
