Dr. Egg and the Man with No Ear

KIDS FROM THE STICKS Redmoon works its marionette magic.

Photo: Sean Williams

Puppet troupe Redmoon has worked hard to turn its brand name into a lexical adjective. And while this marketing-friendly strategy arguably has worked—the phrase “very Redmoon” could be spoken by even the most casual Chicago theatergoer—it probably wouldn’t have if the company didn’t often repeat its own aesthetic: a combination of European street pageantry, goth puppets and outsize Rube Goldberg contraptions. With its latest work, though, the company partners with Sydney Opera House and offers a show that can’t be summed up purely via name recognition. In fact, at the moment, there’s nothing in the city’s mainstream-performance scene with which to compare it. Inducing the kind of double-takes reserved for Pixar movies—the actors and puppets against a black background resemble high-res animation—the bold, optically startling Dr. Egg, directed by Australian Wilson, is the first Redmoon show I’ve seen that left me not satisfied but craving more.

Some will be taken by the story’s “current events” cachet: With the help of an alchemist, a young girl tries to genetically engineer a new ear for her one-eared dad and, in the process, accidentally clones a scaly, menacing infant. If you’ve never encountered science fiction before, you’re welcome to see it as groundbreaking social commentary. But the wonderfully amoral narrative is still less impressive than the fact that every single design stroke—Graeme Davis’s colorful, Henson-looking puppets; John Horan’s deft lighting; and, best of all, Jamie Clennett’s projected black-and-white animation, which blends seamlessly with the live action—is inspired directly by the material. Creatively, it’s a treat. Visually, it’s a new standard.