Reading the “Sexuality and Puppets” issue of Puppetry International introduced me to the Theatron Erotikon, “a mid-19th century private puppet theatre in Paris,” that circled me back into the notion of puppetry as a doubled theatre, the show onstage and the actors themselves as constructs; although all actors are constructs, aren’t they? for as long as they hold the stage?

Where sexuality is concerned, though, the stakes seem to be higher, if only because sex is a high-stakes affair no matter what, an ongoing alchemy of play and control (puppetry, again?). There’s a passage in Under the Poppy where a concerned citizen protests a certain puppet-show at the brothel on the grounds that it isn’t moral to show such stuff onstage: notwithstanding his own standing as a (satisfied) customer, and the fact that nothing really “happened” (how could it, between flesh and wood?), somehow the reenactment of a sexual game he himself does not prefer gives him the moral heebie-jeebies.  People ought not watch such stuff!  Right?

Or is the stage the perfect playground/high ground/testing ground for exactly those sort of passion plays?  This young lady seems to have made up her mind on the question.  [Puppet:Al Bogdan.]