Phillyist Reviews... The Master and Margarita

There's no question that the puppets are extraordinary, both in execution and handling. The acting, too, leaves nothing to be desired. But there's something about Mum Puppettheatre's production of The Master and Margarita that's just... too much.

It was nothing short of ambitious for Mum to mount director Adrienne Mackey's adaptation of the now-classic Mikhail Bulgakov Russian novel, and perhaps therein lies the problem. With twenty major characters worthy of mention on the book's Wikipedia page alone, three disparate but intersecting plot settings, and several existing versions and translations of Bulgakov's novel, things were bound to get complicated, especially for those in the audience (a majority, it seems) who were unfamiliar with the source text. And I'll be the first to admit my confusion.

Robert DaPonte and Robert Smythe, the only two human performers in the show (between them, they manage to play the whole cast), are intended to serve not only as actors but as narrators, guiding the audience through the interwoven plots before diving into the action. They're funny and charming in this role, but not always effective. Perhaps if they'd spoken a bit slower; perhaps if the staging had been different so it was possible for them both to face the entire audience at once (the stage was set up as if a hallway); perhaps, perhaps, perhaps... But sometimes, they served to confuse things more, and other times, when their explanations might have been most helpful, they weren't present.

There is so much of this play that is so good—the puppets, of course, plus Smythe as Pontius Pilate, all of Woland's retinue, DaPonte in our first introduction to Bezdomny, and the literal "talking heads" that would appear and comment on events ex post facto—that it seems a shame that the overall production would be a let-down. There was too much frenetic energy, too much running around. Sometimes, scenes shifted just when they were starting to become clear, and not knowing the book, more information was needed. It's not, by any means, a bad play – just an example of a new play that needs workshopping before being fully mounted. (Granted, this is probably difficult, if not impossible, to do with puppets.)

This could, of course, be a problem of anticipation: I was expecting great things from the play after learning about the novel and going to visit Mum's workshop, plus the fact that I've always loved the shows I've seen at Mum. There was so much build-up that I was bound to be disappointed. But ultimately, I don't think my expectations were any higher than they should have been. And unfortunately, I was left in the audience wishing that the positive things I'd have to say about the show would override my disappointment, and knowing that they probably couldn't.

To Mum: I still love you and all the work you do, but for me, this just couldn't compare to the works I've seen there previously.

Photograph by M. Elizabeth Hershey, via Mum Puppettheatre. The Master and Margarita continues through February 23.