A Review of "Salem"

I’ll admit that a play containing puppets did not sound very appealing at first. However, I’m glad puppets were included because I now appreciate the entertainment that came with the expressive hand movements. I thoroughly enjoyed all the well-placed comedic elements. I don’t know if this was intentional, but I liked how the shadows of the puppets created a show of their own when people went on the podium.

After the play ended, the Q&A session made me realize just how challenging acting with puppets can be. Puppets can only have one facial expression, so the movement of the head and body has to be exaggerated for the audience to understand the emotions. The top of the hand also has to stay still and only the thumb can move the mouth. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to act expressively vocally and physically while constantly matching the words with the puppet’s mouth.

There were some parts that I found confusing or random. For one, the janitor (I forget his name) just suddenly decides he wants to commit suicide. I thought that was thrown in rather abruptly. Also, the vortex seemed like a weak idea to resolve all the conflicts and tie up all loose ends. However, the humor made up for these slight flaws.