House of the Exquisite Corpse V: Blood and Puppets

Now in its fifth year, Rough House Theater Company’s House of the Exquisite Corpse has become my favorite Chicago Halloween tradition. Over the course of an hour, audience members in small groups make their way through a series of short plays. Some are scary. Some are unsettling. All are performed by puppets.

House of the Exquisite corpse contains everything I love about live theater. First, even as a ‘passive’ audience member, you are engaging with something, and someone, in front of you. I think it’s part of the Muppets’ enduring popularity. Even though I know the puppet I’m watching is being controlled by a puppeteer, and even when I can see the puppeteer on stage, my brain chooses to believe that person or animal or otherworldly horror is a real thing. Each of the plays is performed in a small enclosed space, and the audience views it through a hole in the wall, listening with headphones. I can’t do the effect justice here, but you really are transporting yourself into the world of the story. These stories envelop you and when the first creature twitches to life, it’s real and alive.

The other element that I love about this show is that each iteration is a unique experience. I’ve been to every version of this show and they have never come close to repeating themselves. That makes the experience special. Not to sound too much like ‘old man yells at cloud,’ but in a world where most of the media we consume is consumed alone, with attention divided between multiple screens, and carefully sanded down to be offensive to no one, and, therefore, memorable to no one, I have come to truly treasure a unique experience.

I don’t want to describe the shows themselves in any detail, since going in cold is part of the fun. What I will say is that the team at Rough House has outdone themselves this year. They found ways to use puppetry and scenery and a small space in truly creative ways. One with a mirror (that’s all I’ll say) took my breath away at how simple but effective it was. It is obvious that every component of this show was crafted with love and talent and enthusiasm, and getting to share that, even for a few minutes, was special.

Shows like this are one of the many reasons that I love living in Chicago and having access to a theater scene that nurtures such talent. I strongly suggest you see this show before it closes and I have no doubt that you’ll want to make this show part of your Halloween tradition as well.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Kevin Curran

Presented October 9 – November 1 by Rough House Puppet Arts at Steppenwolf Theatre’s Merle Reskin Space at 1624 N. Halsted, Chicago.

Tickets are available through Rough House Theater Company’s website.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.