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 ZENOBIA FROST reviews THE TIMELY DEATH OF VICTOR BLOTT.
The Timely Death of Victor Blott was touted as ‘Tim Burton meets Pinocchio’, but really this gothic fairytale for grown-ups transcends that label in its opening scenes. Co-presented by Metro Arts and Brisbane’s Dead Puppet Society, this is the story of young Victor, a boy born without a heartbeat who has never left the basement of his Victorian family’s home. His father collects and mounts insects, selling them to collectors for a pittance, while his mother washes clothes for wealthy women. To make ends meet, Mr Blott sells access to his unusual son to a doctor. But that doctor literally wants to open Victor up to see what makes him not tick.
Director David Morton uses numerous media to tell the story; the play opens with brilliant shadow puppetry and, shortly thereafter, projected animation. The main body of the play, narrated by the child-like voice of Natasha-Rose Pizzica, is peopled by both ‘real-life’ actors and puppets. Morton handles deftly what could have been a sensory overload, and carries us safely into Victor’s basement home. The set design and lighting are exemplary; Mr Blott’s office, wallpaper dominated by framed insects, replicates the workspace of the gentleman collector that Mr Blott aspires to be. The dank basement domain of the sad Mrs Blott and her son, who curls up nightly in the washing basket, is beautifully lit by lighting designer Whitney Eglington’s ‘fireflies’ – a warm, glowing firmament that forms Victor’s approximation of a night sky.
There are lots of glowing moments, too, in Maxine Mellor’s script, but despite this the dialogue is occasionally stilted, though it must be said that the leads – Elizabeth Millington and Kieran Law as Mrs and Mr Blott – do grow into their roles as the play progresses, and by the end, Millington’s passion in the role is frankly stirring. The characters themselves are intriguing enough – Mr Blott especially, a conflicted character who cannot see his son as anything but a specimen to pin down.
There is, perhaps, needless exposition provided by the narrator, whose presence in the plot is justified in a revelation at the story’s conclusion that seems tacked on and only serves to distract from Victor, to whom the play really belongs. The little puppet shines, skilfully handled by three practically invisible puppeteers. Morton notes that he made Victor to experiment with the ways that an audience might empathise with a puppet, and in this he definitely succeeds. All eyes are on Victor, and though he never speaks, we feel his wonder and later, his fear. In fact, The Timely Death of Victor Blott is downright scary, and as the title would suggest, the tragedy at its conclusion is genuinely moving.
The Dead Puppet Society is clearly a collective to watch, and I for one hope for the opportunity to see Victor Blott on the stage again. It is a play with a “mouth full of pins and a drawer full of secrets” and, regardless of whether or not it beats, a very big heart.
THE TIMELY DEATH OF VICTOR BLOTT played at the Sue Benner Theatre, Metro Arts from May 5 to 22. Watch out for upcoming projects at www.deadpuppetsociety.com.au
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