Garnering a well-deserved award for Overall Excellence - Solo Show, this tour-de-force by Kevin Augustine was a frequent sell out at the New York International Fringe Festival. Augustine is an inspired creator and performer who moves easily from text to mime to bunraku-style puppetry (with the aid puppetry assistants Josh Cohen and Anna Kramer in black from head to toe). Big Top Machine captures some of the less glamorous aspects of the traditional circus.
The show begins with a hoarse narrator in a tattered suit hawking the bizarre Allied Circus. Augustine then transforms himself into red-caped Ramsey, the Flying Man. In a flash he is scaling a pole to dizzying heights for a cheering audience on tape. Three cute stuffed lions are made to jump through hoops, and other feats of greatness amaze and delight. Ramsey becomes the circus equivalent of our dream heroes that miraculously save mankind, but Augustine also deftly slips in jibes at corporate America and American obsessions. His sculpted puppets humanize this engaging and entertaining show by a master manipulator.
The creative team of Katherine Streeter (design), Sean McFaul (soundtrack) and Craig A. Young (lighting) is also noteworthy.
