This is straight-up puppetry, just about as simple as it
gets. Tyrone is not an elegant work of sculpture. He is a fuzzy
A
thrilling night of theatre begins with a prologue, a
blasphemous hilarious rant by the darkly sinister
sock puppet Tyrone speaking from a simple puppet
booth. Reviewing the play in the New York Times, Charles
Isherwood wrote that Tyrone is “a formidable foul-mouthed
villain…ruthless evildoer…flat-out hilarious, spewing forth acid
commentary that will turn those goose bumps into guffaws.”
The first scene establishes Jason, as a shy inquisitive
15-year-old who finds a creative outlet with the Christian
Puppet Ministry run by his widowed mother, in a small
Texas town. The pastor, a school bully and the girl next door
complete the cast.
All five human characters are well-intentioned church
attending folks who struggle unsuccessfully to hide their
“inappropriate” sexual
desires. Playwright Robert
Askins gives each of them
brilliantly written scenes
as they comically and
passionately give in to
temptation.
Jason is typically
awkward but with Tyrone
on his hand he tries to
impress the girl next door by
partnering with his puppet
to perform both roles in the
famous Abbott and Costello
comic routine, “Who’s on
First.” However there is
nothing cute or adorable
about this completely adult Steven Boyer in a scene from Robert Askins’ HAND TO GOD on
and totally excellent play that Broadway. (Photo by Joan Marcus)
can switch from tender to
terrifying in a flash.
The lead actor gets to play both hero and villain. The
phrase “wrestling with our inner demons” can neatly wrap
a painful process into a poetic image. In Hand to God, the
“inner demons” and the “wrestling” are given a heart-stopping
blood and guts reality. The on-stage wrestling match between
the teenager Jason and his sock puppet Tyrone is a powerful
virtuoso aria that had me on the edge of my seat.
Just below the surface of the funny, sexually explicit
language, playwright Robert Askins provides extremely
well-written character-revealing dialogue, put together in
briskly paced scenes. The dark humor doesn’t quite mask the
intentions of an author who is grappling with large ideas and
big emotions.
It is certainly possible that this play will find its way into
the seasons of regional theatres around the country. One can
only hope that the dual role of Jason and the puppet Tyrone
will be filled by actors who have the passion and skill needed
to give equal force to these bi-polar opposites. It is tempting
to offer details more about performances, but I want to refrain
from writing more spoilers in the hope that readers will see the
play without knowing details in advance.
grey sock puppet with tiny arms worked by rods. There are no
clever elaborate mechanisms, no bold design, and no catchy
tunes. Tyrone is small but powerful. He is smaller and simpler
than the puppets in Lion King, Little Shop of Horrors, Avenue
Q, or Warhorse, but he dominates the stage. The creative team
of Hand to God appears to have absolute faith in the power of
puppetry!
Writing in the New Yorker Michael Schulman places
Tyrone in the tradition of Mr. Punch. “They (puppets) can
seem more human than we are, because they have the freedom
to follow their instincts no matter how mischievous or
destructive.”
Some background on the production and cast:
Steven Boyer: As a teenager, Steven Boyer, the Tony-
nominated leading actor/puppeteer, worked with the
Columbus (Ohio) Children’s Theatre. He moved to NY to
study acting at Julliard and graduated in 2001, and in 2002
had his first Broadway credit. He has worked in film and
television (Wolf of Wall Street, Law and Order) and received
great notices working as a
stand-up comic. He does an
uncanny impression of actor
Michael J. Fox. Mr. Boyer
worked with puppets in the
off-off Broadway “Jollyship the
Whiz-Bang” (2008) produced at
Ars Nova. In 2014 he received
a best actor off-Broadway Obie
Award for “Hand to God.”
When the original off-
off Broadway production of
“Hand to God” was about to
open Steven was interviewed
by Catherine Rampell for the
NY Times (Dec 1, 2011). He
said: “Julliard doesn’t really
prepare you for puppetry. It
certainly doesn’t prepare you
for satanic puppetry…This
show is like getting shot out of
a cannon.” After reading the
script Steven made his own sock puppet to use in rehearsals
and did remarkable things with it as he explored its range
of movement and expression. (Marte Johanne Ekhougen is
credited as the puppet designer for the Broadway run, but
Tyrone is very similar to the off Broadway version.)
Hand to God premiered at the Ensemble Studio Theatre
Oct 2011, with an extended run Feb 2012 (reviewed by Fergus
J. Walsh in Puppetry Journal Winter 2011). It opened Off-
Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre March 2014, and
opened on Broadway at the Booth Theater April 5, 2015.
Closing date is currently listed as July 26, 2015.
The 5 Tony Award nominations for Hand to God: Robert
Askins-best play; Steven Boyer-best performance by an actor
in a leading role in a play; Geneva Carr-best performance
by an actress in a leading role in a play; Sarah Stiles-best
performance by an actress in featured role in a play; Moritz
Von Stuelpnagel-best direction of a play. Michael Oberholzer
and Marc Kudisch round out the excellent ensemble.
Steve Abrams is a Philadelphia-based puppeteer and among other
things is an Associate Editor and columnist for the Puppetry Journal.
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