First off, a personal prejudice: The words "multi-media" and "performance art" generally strike equal measures of fear and loathing into my Sondheim- and Shakespeare-loving purist heart. I imagine a naked woman covering herself in chocolate syrup to protest working conditions in Cambodia while pointillist reproductions of impressionist paintings are projected onto a back wall and Vogon poetry is blasted over a sound system. Yes, it's an unfair prejudice, and I'm currently in therapy to overcome it, but for the meanwhile, I certainly wouldn't let any multi-media pieces or performance artworks marry my daughter.
But even my bigoted little heart melted like the ice caps at The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer, an ingenious combination of live and recorded music, modern technology, clever design, inventive puppetry and good old-fashioned storytelling. Created and performed by Tim Watts, the multi-media piece follows the titular adventures of the titular Alvin, who accepts a dangerous mission for his own personal needs. The polar ice caps have melted, humanity is reduced to living on mountaintops and skyscrapers and someone needs to find the legendary undersea world where people can relocate. Alvin volunteers for the job, but not because he wants to save humanity: His wife has recently died, her soul is somewhere deep under the sea and he wants to find her.
So off Alvin goes, sometimes as a large puppet with Watts' hand serving as a body, sometimes as a small action figure and sometimes as a PowerPoint animation. He encounters numerous creatures on his journey, some of them repurposed from everyday objects (a glowing koosh ball becomes a fantastic sparkling sea urchin, for example) and some of them other puppets.
And while the various creatures and sights Alvin sees are clever and quite amusing, what drives the story is Alvin's quest to find his wife's soul, giving the 45-minute show a rich, intense and very emotional energy. While one can (and should) grin and laugh out loud at the clever animation and puppetry, I had trouble holding back tears at several points in the show. For all the comedy, wonder and whimsy, there is an overarcing sense of loss and melancholy, echoed by a simple, mournful ukulele refrain that plays throughout the show. Alvin hasn't simply lost his wife; he's lost his world, even if the two seem to be one and the same.
If the triumph of the show is in its heart, the honor must go to Tim Watts, credited as "Creator/Performer/Animator." He also operates the entire show himself through a laptop and remote controls, proving that a wonderfully moving theatrical experience doesn't need anything more than wit, ingenuity and boundless creativity. I won't point any fingers, but I highly doubt any $40 million Broadway spectacles could pack such an emotional wallop into two-and-a-half hours as Mr. Watts does into 45 minutes. But who knows--I could be wrong about that. After all, I was wrong about multi-media and performance art, right?
The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer plays on Sunday, August 23 at 8:15 and Thursday, August 27 at 7:30 as part of the Fringe festival at HERE Arts Center.
