Review: Hand to God

On opening night of B Street Theatre’s production of the dark comedy Hand to God, some regular theater members left at intermission, audibly not happy with a play that contains rather raw language and shocking storylines. Understandably so, since B Street’s regular patrons are used to mainstream productions on the company’s Mainstage, with more provocative plays presented on its B3 Series stage. Still, most of the audience stayed and found themselves hopelessly laughing at totally inappropriate-yet-uproariously-funny dialogue, unexpected plot twists and pounding puppet sex—presented by a demonic puppet, his rather perturbed-and-disturbed teen handler and other sundry characters.

Robert Askins’ Hand to God starts off with a monologue by a foul-mouthed puppet spouting off frustrations with life, love, God and Jesus—dotted by salty swear words.

The puppet is poking out of a small puppet theater, so it’s a shock when the lights come up and we discover we’re in a church basement and the puppeteer is young Jason (Ryan Borses), a teen participating in a puppet production practice. Two other teens are working on their puppets—innocent-looking, sweet-voiced Jessica (Stephanie Altholz) and teen troublemaker Timmy (Andrew Mazer)—all under the resentful and not-so-watchful eye of Jason’s emotionally unstable mother Margery (Elisabeth Nunziato). They’re attempting to give soft-spoken, well-meaning Pastor Greg (Dave Pierini) a Sunday-school-appropriate puppet show. The standout performance is by Borses, who masterfully delivers two vastly different roles and voices simultaneously, as timid teen Jason and his devil-in-puppet-form Tyrone. The rest of the cast is spot on, cleverly delivering graphic secrets and brazen scenes.

Plot turns feel fast and furious, so come prepared to be both thoroughly shocked and entertained.