Like Madame Defarge and her prophetic knitting needles, only Patrick Bristow has an idea about what’s in store for the six puppeteers in STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG, the outrageous adults-only comedy/puppet show – and even he doesn’t know for sure. As with a box of chocolates – the audience and performers at the improvisational show never know what they’re going to get, and the result is two hours of deliciously demented fun for grown-ups.

Patrick Bristow, the host/emcee/director/co-creator of STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG is something of a variation on television’s “Whose Line Is It Anyway” with felt and fur. “We’ve rehearsed the basic structure of the show,” the impishly mischievous co-creator/director/host says, “but (the actors) have no idea who’s going to get called to perform in any given sequence. I put the show’s order together, and I cast the actors in ways that challenge them.”

Suggestions from the audience also radically alter the show from night to night: the comedian puppeteers (several of whom are alums of the famous Groundlings Comedy troupe, where Bristow taught) may be called on to improvise a telenovela with hot dogs, or they may take on the roles of cuddly euthanasia-performing bunnies, or television newscasters may report on the horrifying outbreak of peace in the Middle East, or the actors may even enact the life story of audience members. Additionally, some sequences are musically-based, with the actors improvising songs in a variety of styles with an onstage pianist.

Actors select their puppets from a huge rack filled with dozens of potential muses (warthogs, aliens, fish, and much more), and when performing they must be mindful of a center stage video camera which simultaneously broadcasts their puppets’ actions (though not the actors’ bodies) to two huge screens on either side of the stage for all audience members to see. Imagine an anything-goes, potentially smutty version of “The Muppet Show,” and you get the idea.

In fact, STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG is a production of Henson Alternative, an adult offshoot of The Jim Henson Company – and Jim’s son Brian carries the family torch as the show’s executive producer and ensemble member. “The real Henson ethos is pretty subversive,” Bristow says. “The early Wilkins Coffee commercials (which predate the cute and cuddly milieu of Kermit the Frog and “Sesame Street”) are downright violent, with puppets getting blown apart by cannons and terrorized by table saws. Like cartoons, puppets can get away with things that humans can’t.”

“The minute someone puts on a puppet, all eyes go to it. There’s a childlike impulse to forget it’s a puppet – it’s easier to make the suspension of disbelief.” Bristow thinks the show’s appeal derives from something familiar with a new, rarified twist. “When you’re a kid,” he explains, “you’re happy with cheap candy. And now that you’re grown up, you prefer Godiva.”

Does anyone out there still think puppets are kid stuff? Bristow says “Come to the show and see what all the hoo-ha is about!”

STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG is currently on sale through May 29. Performances on Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays are at 9pm, and performances on Saturdays are at 8pm and 11pm. Tickets, priced at $50, are available by phoning 212-307-4100 or by visiting TicketMaster.com. The Union Square Theatre is located at 100 East 17th Street.

 

Colleen Smith, Brian Henson, Ted Michaels, and friends. Photo by Carol Rosegg.