On the Other Hand
A Meta Puppet Play
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On the Other Hand is a meta puppet play, where two puppets, Lorna and Judy, become gradually aware of the external forces that are controlling and manipulating them.
Lorna is the first to begin to sense the presence of the Puppeteers. She has begun to hear the voices of the Puppeteers at night. When she expresses her fears to her friend Judy, Judy becomes alarmed that Lorna might be experiencing symptoms of mental illness. She talks Lorna into visiting a doctor.
At the visit to the doctor’s office, the Doctor is actually a Puppeteer for Lorna. Lorna, lying on a couch and facing away from the Doctor, is not aware of this. When Lorna displays increasing resistance to a regime involving a range of pills, the Doctor orders her turn around. Lorna, confronted with the sight of the Doctor’s hand literally inside her, begins to scream.
The next time Judy and Lorna meet for coffee, Lorna is heavily drugged and Judy begins to question her diagnosis. Judy experiments with staying awake in her box at night, and this results in her Puppeteer removing her and her box.
Lorna goes to meet Judy for coffee again, but this time there is a new puppet who insists that she is Judy. Loyalty to her friend causes Lorna to break out of her drug-induced apathy. She bites her Puppeteer.
The final scene takes place on the scrap heap, where both Lorna and Judy face the fears and the hopes of life beyond the Puppeteers.
Four puppeteers
Puppet theatre set
Ten minutes
Lorna is the first to begin to sense the presence of the Puppeteers. She has begun to hear the voices of the Puppeteers at night. When she expresses her fears to her friend Judy, Judy becomes alarmed that Lorna might be experiencing symptoms of mental illness. She talks Lorna into visiting a doctor.
At the visit to the doctor’s office, the Doctor is actually a Puppeteer for Lorna. Lorna, lying on a couch and facing away from the Doctor, is not aware of this. When Lorna displays increasing resistance to a regime involving a range of pills, the Doctor orders her turn around. Lorna, confronted with the sight of the Doctor’s hand literally inside her, begins to scream.
The next time Judy and Lorna meet for coffee, Lorna is heavily drugged and Judy begins to question her diagnosis. Judy experiments with staying awake in her box at night, and this results in her Puppeteer removing her and her box.
Lorna goes to meet Judy for coffee again, but this time there is a new puppet who insists that she is Judy. Loyalty to her friend causes Lorna to break out of her drug-induced apathy. She bites her Puppeteer.
The final scene takes place on the scrap heap, where both Lorna and Judy face the fears and the hopes of life beyond the Puppeteers.
Four puppeteers
Puppet theatre set
Ten minutes
