Variations On (the) Water
Created by Lake Simons and John Dyer; Accompanied by music composed by John Dyer
HERE Arts Center | 145 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10013
May 29th - June 1st
As Variations opens, I felt as though I was being pulled into a Norman Rockwell painting. The music then carries Lake Simons away, and we begin floating with her out in the world. Part of a longer piece, Raft Project by Simons and John Dyer, this hour long exploration is soothing and sensational. We can feel the wind blow. Comedy and drama flow fluidly through time, as we travel by raft with fish and birds. Simple, pure artistry takes us on this silent journey, sweeping us away from the day and the present into a magical world.
Listed as a solo piece, Simons is actually joined by a “mini-me”. W.C. Fields said, “Never work with children or animals” because they always steal the show. So you can imagine the effect of a child puppeting a bird! For me the presence of this child represented our inner child - the person we were before the world got its grip on us. The notion of getting to see yourself at your purest form, and spending time with my inner child washed over me. It reminded me that we don’t need to define everything; that we don’t need to prescribe purpose to everything; that it is okay to just be present.
After the performance, which called for a 2nd bow, I sat for a moment and listened with glee as the audience members discussed what they saw; what images popped into their minds; what moments moved them. They spoke with the fascination of children. I left feeling relaxed and refreshed as though I had floated away on a raft downstream in a cool breeze on a sunny day to the sounds of birdsong.
Click HERE for tickets.
HERE’s Dream Music Puppetry Program, under the artistic direction of Basil Twist, with producing direction from HERE co-founder Barbara Busackino, is one of few programs in the country to grow and commission contemporary adult puppet works, particularly works that feature live music as a collaborative element. Dream Music seeks to secure the future of puppetry by providing increased development and performance opportunities to puppet artists, and by collaborating with artists from other disciplines to develop new puppetry techniques. In addition, Dream Music brings to New York the most excellent of international puppetry, reflecting on Twist’s roots at the École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mezieres, France. Dream Music was inaugurated with the premiere of Basil Twist’s OBIE-award winning Symphonie Fantastique in 1998 and the opening of the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, an intimate space created specifically for intimate puppetry. HERE’s Dream Music is also proud to house the Griff Williams Puppetry Collection. The 6 antique marionettes of Harry James, Griff Williams, Cab Calloway, Arturo Toscannini, Ted Lewis and Paul Whiteman were all performed with The Griff Williams Orchestra in the 1930s & 40s throughout America’s big band era. They have a permanent home outside the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre at HERE.
Puppetopia is made possible through the generous lead support of The Jim Henson Foundation and Cheryl Henson.
Review by Nicole Jesson.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on May 31st, 2025. All rights reserved.