By Michael Rosen-Molina
Daily Bruin Contributor
“Shockheaded Peter” is billed as a junk opera, and
there really is no better analogy for the play.
Based on the classic 18th century didactic German storybook
“Struwwelpeter” by Heinrich Hoffmann, the play presents
a rogue’s gallery of naughty children, bullies,
thumb-suckers, and kids who play with matches. The audience watches
with mounting glee as each one meets his untimely demise.
Julian Bleach plays the hammy unnamed host, a cross between a
smarmy vaudeville emcee and a classic carnival barker. Prancing
around the stage in top hat and tails, whipping his cane about as a
pointer, Bleach is barely able to contain anticipation of the
deliciously gruesome fates of his subjects.
Of course, he reminds us, this is more than just snuff theater;
it is all educational, lessons on how to behave properly.
The play is set up as a series of vignettes, introducing such
mischievous moppets as Johnny Head-In-Air, who just could not keep
his feet on the ground, and Cruel Frederick, who has a thing for
torturing animals.
The routines are sandwiched within the framework of the title
piece, the story of Shockheaded Peter himself.
In the original “Struwwelpeter,” Peter’s story
was a simple rhyme about a boy who refused to practice good
hygiene, but here his character is fleshed out and given a
background story.
One scene opens with a shot of Peter’s well-to-do parents,
played by Tamzin Griffin and Anthony Cairns. The picture of
bourgeoisie contentment, they have all they could ever desire
““ except a child. Finally, after years of waiting, they are
overjoyed when the mangy stork pays a visit, clutching a little
bundle of joy in its mandibles, as Peter’s father eloquently
calls them.
Their joy quickly turns to horror, though, at the sight of the
grotesque baby with wicked black claws and wild, straw-like hair.
Disgusted, the couple stashes the unwelcome intruder beneath the
floorboards of their sitting room ““ out of sight, out of
mind. Peter, however, does not wither and die, he grows bigger and
stronger. Soon, his subterranean scuttling is slowly driving his
guilty parents mad.
Only a few of the stories presented in the play are straight out
of Hoffmann’s book. Those that originally ended with their
protagonists still alive were changed to correct that
shortcoming.
Thus Fidgety Philip, the boy who rocks his chair at the dinner
table, does not just tip over the table, he also receives a face
full of nasty cutlery in the process.
As excellent as the cast is, the crowing triumph of the
production is the puppets. Conrad Suck-a-thumb appears as a
pathetic, bedraggled puppet with extended thumbs clenched in an
oversized mouth. His mother warns him that his bad habit will only
bring him misery, and, indeed, the audience can already see a
sinister tailor lurking in the background. When Conrad ignores her
advice, he soon learns all too graphically that maniacal men with
scissors are not to be trifled with.
“Shockheaded Peter” is chock full of such little
goodies. A Boschian monstrosity leaps from the wings to drag away
little Conrad’s body. Three limp, blank-faced marionettes,
the “Silly Bully Boys,” drop from the ceiling to dance
an eerie, dangling jig. Shockheaded Peter’s father,
desperately straining to forget the creature below his floorboards,
struts through a city of Monty Python-style animated buildings.
Martyn Jacque’s accordion music is specially designed to
be grating, and, while this suits the off-kilter atmosphere of the
piece, it also means that those segments where the play abandons
gimmicks and focuses on pure music are rather tedious. The story of
Augustus, the boy who refuses to eat his soup and thus starves to
death, is told entirely through song, and one wonders why the
makers passed up this golden opportunity to create some truly
disturbing puppets.
Despite all its changes, “Shockheaded Peter” still
remains truer to the spirit of the original stories than does the
newest “Strewwelpeter” edition, recently published by
Feral books. While the new book aims to be plain revolting, it
forgets that “Struwwelpeter” was never intended to be
taken seriously. It was supposed to entertain children while they
learned.
The minds behind “Shockheaded Peter” have perfectly
captured the essence of the original collection. It is not a
horrified, indicting look back at outdated child psychology methods
of the past, but an excuse for a rollicking good time.
Try as it might, “Shockheaded Peter” just
can’t manage to be disturbing; its too much fun. The
misfortunes that befall naughty little children are about as
horrifying as watching Bugs Bunny drop anvils on the coyote’s
head. But it’s also twice as funny.
THEATER: “Shockheaded Peter” shows through May 28 at
UCLA’s Freud Playhouse. Shows are Tuesday through Friday at 8
p.m., Saturday at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., and Sunday at 8 p.m. Tickets
are $35 and $15 with student I.D. and can be purchased through the
CTO at 310-825-2101. For more information visit www.performingarts.ucla.edu.