Nassim Soleimanpour’s peerless, hugely acclaimed 2010 show White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, could be the ultimate puppet show, in spite of no marionettes on the stage. Instead, one single performer- either a well-regarded actor or comedian- stands alone on a bare stage with a table and script, penned by Soleimanpour.There are no distractions like complex scenography or props, just the weight of the words of the playwright.As the name (which alludes to a Middle Eastern folk tale) may imply, the show runs and runs, and continues to do so.The script, taken out of an envelope addressed to the performer, is read ‘blind’. The performer is unaware of what lies ahead for them, and will read it out loud to the audience. It makes certain demands of them.
Thus, the performer is stripped of their own agency, essentially left at the mercy of the puppeteer (Soleimanpour, not in the room) as neutral in their own skin as a Bunraku puppet and imbued with life by his script. This posits interesting questions about the complex, multilayered relationship between theatrical performer and playwright, about how much freedom there is with regards to decisions an actor makes about their own movements on stage, and how much a director or playwright can control or manipulate the action.
It also acts as a hugely knotty metaphor for the human condition. The playwright was unable to leave his country, so of course there are wider political questions there to unpack. When do words become inflammatory? And why?Who decides?
There are also ideas within the piece about the playwright as creator/destroyer, or trickster. The script often pokes fun at the performer, playfully humiliating them. They must bunny hop on cue, or be ridiculous at certain points. The puppet master is the one pulling the strings, he determines how things will pan out. Interesting parallels appear between the playwright, and in the extreme, a charming or charismatic cult figure like Charles Manson or Jim Jones: men who sucked in followers with charm and promises of Utopia, only to ultimately lead them into nefarious acts, or in Jones’ case, their own demise, by drinking poison-laced Kool Aid.
Another more recent example may be the red pill/blue pill of sci-fi film The Matrix. One guarantees the truth, another keeps the person oblivious.What to do? What, given this circumstance, would anyone do?Paradoxes appear, of being safe and cocconed in ignorance; or enlightened but corrupted. Knowledge is indeed power, but of course, all too often, power comes at a price.
Without giving away too much about the play to those who have never witnessed it, a request is asked of the performer by Soleimanpour, and the performer must proceed with great caution. By moving in one direction, there are, potentially, terrible consequences. By choosing another, benign consequences. What is the performer to do? They can consult the audience if they so desire, but ultimately, their fate is in Soleimanpour’s hands.
A unique play which isn’t really a play, more a provocation which challenges fixed notions of what theatre performance can do, White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is, to my mind, the ultimate puppet show. Like Alice, the performer can go down the rabbit hole, following the White Rabbit, but there will be devastating results, dependent on which route they take- is it really worth the risk? To what end must they follow, or should they rebel, cut the strings, and become free? Who really has autonomy? It’s potent, because these are timeless questions. It remains a masterpiece, because our world is on fire.
Hit The North 