Ottawa Fringe 2014: Who Killed Gertrude Crump? A World Premiere.

This Murder Mystery with puppets is a world premiere that probably should have waited a bit before going public. The set is fine, the lighting sets up the right atmosphere, the choice of music is exciting but the actor who manipulates all the puppets (9 or 10 of them) all by herself, is not quite at home with her script which has masses of movement, and individuals coming and going and just creating a complicated scenario. It is in fact one of Agatha Christie’s earlier plays that was never published, the puppeteer tells us –but maybe that is a way of getting our undivided attention.  As well, this puppeteer tends to forground herself instead of her puppets so we don’t pay too much attention to them.  Normally, there has to be some sense of illusion that the puppets come from their own world but we are caught in the world of Tara Travis the puppeteer who keeps asking us what we think and explaining everything. This constantly breaks the magic- certainly not  the best strategy,.aside from the fact that these  puppets are not very interesting creatures.

We are used to an excellent puppet tradition from the western part of Canada with Ronny Burkett, Old Trout, One Yellow Rabbit…and this company (Ryan Gladstone Productions) certainly does not cut it- yet.  The fact some of the puppets fell apart during the show can happen I suppose but that can be fixed, as can forgotten lines and a sense of exhaustion that emanated from the actress. Nevertheless. there is still lots of work  to be done on this show . But perhaps  that is what the Fringe is all about  .. testing one’s ideas.

Who Killed Gertrude Crump plays at Arts Court Theatre.