Theater Review - Send in the pig

The Pig Act at the Center for Puppetry Arts

The world is a circus tent for the folks at Sandglass Theater, and they are taking their show on the road with their production of The Pig Act.
In this season opener for Center for Puppetry Arts’ New Directions Series, a doe-eyed creature performs in a glitzy circus tent, playing an eerie song on two sticks. When the sticks break, he must create a new act to survive. That’s where the pig comes in.

Under the direction of his new master, this little piggy performs a series of stunts that become increasingly more harrowing — pig on tightrope, trapeze pig and finally pig shot from a cannon. During the course of the show, the pig and master perform increasingly risky acts as they’re pushed to the margins of existence. Like an episode of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” it becomes a question of whether to laugh or wince at the pain of the plush swine’s disastrous efforts.

Director Eric Bass likens the tale to the “pig act” we all perform, juggling some aspects of our lives to survive. It is when our most desperate acts seem to fail that we find the strongest sense of being in the world, says Bass.

“It’s a comedy with a very dark underside, and we like that,” says Bass, who founded Sandglass Theater with his wife, Ines Zeller Bass, in Munich, Germany. They’re now based in a barn theater in Putney, Vt.

Watch out. Sheep, goats and chickens may be next. The Pig Act runs Aug. 23-25 at the Center for Puppetry Arts, 1404 Spring St. Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sun. at 5 p.m. $16-$20. 404-873-3391. www.puppet.org.