A Perfect Analysis Given By A Parrot
Playwright: Tennessee Williams
Direction: Fred Abrahamse
Puppet Heads: Hillette Stapelberg
Puppet bodies & Costumes: Fred Abrahamse & Marcel Meyer
Costume Design: Marcel Meyer
Photography: Ride Hamilton & Pat Bromilow-Downing
Cast: Marcel Meyer, Dean Balie [Cape Town & Greensboro], Ben Watts [Provincetown]
Venue/s: Governor Bradford, Provincetown [September 2016], The Vineyard Hotel, Cape Town [July – September 2017], Upstage Cabaret TRIAD Stage, Greensboro [October 2017]
About: This outrageous puppet version of Tennessee Williams’ hilarious one-act comedy premiered in a double-bill with Act 2 scene 2 of Eugene O’Neill’s Welded at the 2016 Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival. Parrot then played along with Williams’ The Remarkable Rooming-House of Mme Le Monde at the Vineyard Hotel and Triad Stage under the collective title Two By Tenn.
What the Press Said:
“Abrahamse and Meyer also brought Williams’ “A Perfect Analysis Given by a Parrot,” paired with a scene recast from O’Neill’s “Welded.” In both plays, “good time girls,” revealed as sensitive and wise, are played in drag. From feathered boas and trash talk to an illuminating vision of an overlooked O’Neill, this yin-yang duo was perfect Provincetown” – PROVINCETOWN BANNER
“fantastically exciting… The first striking thing about this production was the choice to use two full-size puppets, Dame Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Crawford, to play Bessie and Flora… Fred Abrahamse’s direction proved unafraid of embracing artifice and, by doing so, using the visual and performance styles to support the play instead of work against it.”- HUFFINTON POST
“Masterful. It gives a new resonance to a ‘puppet play’.” CAPE TIMES
“the authority bordering on insouciance with which Meyer impersonates Taylor, and Balie, Crawford, is the key to the success of this production.” CAPE ARGUS
“As if the script isn’t quirky enough, Abrahamse has emphasised the absurdity with flounces of silky black fabric and oversized puppets... The exaggerated crimson lips lend a bawdy attitude and thanks to expert manipulation by the two puppeteers that delicious moment of suspended belief is one you sink in to quickly. The pair double up as the Sons of Mars themselves and are both in fine singing mettle as they offer a rendition of Cole Porter’s You’re the Top, as if performing as puppets in drag wasn’t enough to showcase their versatility.” – WEEKEND SPECIAL
“Loads of fun…you get two in one, expert acting and skilful puppetry” DIE BURGER
