A light diversion

Shadow play lacks substance in En Masse

by Bill Rodriguez

EN MASSE. by Heather Henson. With Kristin Miller, Melissa Hensley, Heather Henson. At Perishable Theatre through October 3.

Heather Henson's En Masse is such a gentle offering. It tries to slow us down, as if to show us that a drifting cloud is as worthy of attention as a parade passing below it. The work's interplay of shadow puppetry, nature-inspired objects and movement is opening the Stage 2 schedule at Perishable Theatre.

It's a slight presentation, which too much theatrical expectation will blow away. Barely longer than 30 minutes, it consists of four overlapping pieces, all centered around a large translucent circle that stands against a simulated star-lit sky in the black-box space. Helping direct the mood, like a guided meditation, is lighting design by Nicholas Wisdom and sound design by Tim O'Keefe, the New Age music including selections of Neotropic and Sun Electric.

The pieces are inspired by the natural environment, and draw us into that world around us. A deer puppet, manipulated with rods, has a body that is the head of a man. In perhaps the most gracefully beautiful image, a fish puppet, translucent but softly multi-colored, undulates atop the upraised legs of the puppeteer behind the screen. At some points the shadows of the puppeteers are thrown onto the center-stage circle, just as shadow puppets do from behind the screen.

The first piece, "Stone wall hoof," is the least arresting as shadow play, but eventually puppeteers Kristin Miller and Melissa Hensley emerge to do a dance of their own choreography. Wearing elegant white deer heads atop their heads, Julie Taymor- style, they perform a pas de deux that combines the movements of the animals with the longing that humans have to be so graceful. An even freer grace, that of wind-borne leaves and petals, is displayed in "Petal rise." Natural forms that look like milkweed pod segments drift about, culminating in one of the performers wielding three of them and turning into a dancing trillium.

Water imagery abounds in "Sea breath." Miller and Hensley swish fish about on wands, two in each hand. The little puppets are lit from within, and in the dim theater space the wonderful illusion is maintained that a school of fish are flicking this way and that with a collective intention. Less successful, because less variation is possible, are three fish as shadow puppets, whirling like a tripartite Tao symbol.

Such imagery comes alive as we enter more fully into the water world. The floor is already slick from foam "snow" that the petals drifted through in a short element called "Squall." Now projections of jellyfish appear on the screen, as before it two performers make great elongated bubbles with loops of string, as conventional bubble machines also fill the air. This culminates behind the screen as Henson creates bubbles by blowing through circles made with thumbs and forefingers. All three manipulate them and exchange them in an impromptu little water ballet. We see the performers as shadows and the bubbles in all their iridescent glow. Beautiful.

Much of En Masse, as charming as its moments can be, reminds us how much more effective these pieces would be in the context of larger works. They could enhance or amplify the mood or theme of more elaborate theatrical productions or fuller choreographies. The opening, for example, is a rather static five minutes apparently designed to center us, but it consists of nothing more than the shadow puppetry of a deer leaping while similar imagery is projected on the face of the screen. This might have worked better, focusing our attention rather than risk becoming boring, if it had been a background component instead of the main event. In fact, Rhode Island School of Design graduate Henson has contributed shadow puppets to the Trinity Repertory Company production of As You Like It, as well as set elements for the Cadence Dance ballet The Snow Queen.

A collaboration is in order. Heather Henson's lyrical imagination would incorporate well into a more ambitious presentation. As it is, what we have here is largely beautiful set design in search of a production to enhance.