Bruce
The star of Bruce (Underbelly, Cowgate, until 30 August)
The look: A spike-free, spongier Bart Simpson.
The character: Hero cop turned novelist, sensitive daredevil, haunted by the past. Would be played by Bruce Willis if a giant yellow bath sponge hadn’t won the part.
The show: Created by Australian company The Last Great Hunt, Bruce is a high-octane, lo-fi adventure with genuine edge-of-the-seat thrills that still manage to skilfully send up every action-movie cliche going. We follow the eponymous hero on a flashback-laden, fractured journey that unfolds across the space-time continuum. There are chase sequences, rocket launches, a marriage proposal, a drug-fuelled bender and Bruce’s hilarious appearance on an arts magazine programme to promote his autobiographical novel. The same yellow foam puppet, with googly eyes and accompanying pair of white-gloved hands, is deftly deployed to portray all the supporting roles, too, most memorably Bruce’s one-eyed nemesis. You can buy your own baby Bruce puppet after the show.
Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace
The stars of Puppet Fiction (Laughing Horse @ The Counting House until 30 August, not 17 and 24)
The look: John Travolta (with a bit of Richard Nixon) and Uma Thurman (with a bit of Liza Minnelli). Tarantino meets Thunderbirds.
The characters: Much as you know them from the Palme d’Or-winning film – but with New Zealand accents and some Auld Reekie references thrown in.
The show: Battered marionettes, operated by NZ puppeteers dressed as Reservoir Dogs, are jangled through one of the film’s three sections, depending on which performance you go to. I caught the movie’s first third, which is faithfully retold complete with Jack Rabbit Slim’s twist contest, Royale with cheese, $5 milkshake, Ezekiel 25:17 and that opening diner robbery, which is styled here as fleecing the audience of their cash. (It’s a free fringe show, so you drop your donations in the bucket at the end.) Other Puppet Fiction stars include Jules Winnfield (the rake-thin marionette manages to capture some of Samuel L Jackson’s menace) and, for no apparent reason, Morgan Freeman.
Tina Henderson
Star of Citizen Puppet (at Pleasance Courtyard until 30 August, not 17)
The look: Downturned mouth, seen-it-all-before stare, caked make-up, leopard-skin print. Bunraku meets TV soap opera battleaxe.
The character: Daily Mail-reading landlady of the local boozer in Massiveville, where you’d cross the road to avoid her.
The show: Jack and the Beanstalk retold to reflect the global financial crisis. Self-described “extreme puppeteers” Blind Summit present a dark and funny show, written by Mark Down and framed as a workshop production of a verbatim, true-crime docudrama, directed by a drug-addled puppet with a community puppet cast. The idea is that they are all residents of Massiveville and are re-enacting a murder inquiry and other events surrounding the beanstalk’s recent collapse in the town. It’s sparky stuff with some excellent voice work and puppets so well realised that you can imagine them leaving the stage and carrying on their day-to-day lives.
