Lake Simons. Photo courtesy of Hip Pocket Theatre.

Lake Simons. Photo courtesy of Hip Pocket Theatre.

Lake Simons. Photo courtesy of Hip Pocket Theatre.

Lake Simons. Photo courtesy of Hip Pocket Theatre.

  

Etiquette Unraveled

by Lake Simons and Chad Lynch

Presented by Hip Pocket Theatre

July 9 - 18

at Silver Creek Amphitheatre
1950 Silver Creek Road
Fort Worth, TX 76108
817-246-9775

$8-$10

9pm Thursday-Sunday
Runtime: One hour with no intermission

Having grown up at her parents' Hip Pocket Theatre, Lake Simons probably couldn't have gone into any line of work other than performing arts. More specifically: physical theater.

Sure, she could have been an accountant or cartographer or advertising exec, but it's hard to imagine her doing anything but follow in the footsteps of her father, Johnny. And that she has done, quite well, putting her own stamp on puppetry and mime. Remarkably, she moves like her once-nimble and lithe dad, who she counts as her most important teacher. (She also studied with the great Jacques Lecoq in Paris.)

Her show Etiquette Unraveled, which she premiered at New York's HERE Arts Center in 2009 and is now performing in Fort Worth, hints at the life she might have had as a cubicle gopher, had she been born into another family. But then she celebrates the path she chose. Or, rather, that chose her.

In a daydream, or some other grand fantasy that theater accommodates so well, she morphs into a ballerina, a silent film diva and other creative types in this one-woman mime, clown and movement performance. Co-directed with Chad Lynch, Simons wears a round red nose throughout, signifying clown mode. The beret is a nod to her training and the French mime tradition.

After playing with some objects found on the stage, she sits in a chair and handles daily duties, beginning with turning off the alarm clock and brushing her teeth, and on to the day job of computer-staring and phone-answering. Then it's back home for a night of clicking through the TV options and off to bed, snuggling with that alarm clock.

All of those mundane, everyday objects—telephone receiver, toothbrush, remote control, etc.—are attached by strings on a contraption behind her, each item weighted at one end. She effortlessly switches between the thingamajigs and captivatingly plays out a complete day.

Then she goes through a series of fantasized events. She's a ballerina at the barre—a plank of wood straddling two stools that later becomes a table for a tea party with one of her hand-held puppet friends. That's where the etiquette unravels most, thanks to the unruly puppet. The tea party is a bust and things get thrown about and messed up. Art isn't always neat.

Then, there's some time shopping and mingling, with top hats and white gloves. That goes awry, too. Later, she's a stage star with a quartet of cat puppets playing the music behind her. She takes a bow to thunderous applause. Eventually, she'll take the ultimate bow-out to no fanfare at all. Death is inevitable.

The charming show moves swiftly and is beautifully imagined. Simons, who recently created puppets for the current New York Shakespeare in the Park production of The Winter's Tale, grows more confident as a physical performer which each new work. She's more focused and controlled, moving fluidly and retaining that unmistakable sense of whimsy and curiosity that was passed down through her genes.

It's a joy to watch her work.

If you miss Etiquette Unraveled, which has only four more performances (rain canceled two shows on opening weekend), then make a point to see Lake's other show at Hip Pocket this summer, Lowdown Wax, running August 6-22. She and returning New York puppeteers Chris Green and Erin Orr will also host the sixth annual Cowtown Puppetry Festival, in which the community is invited to build, create and rehearse a puppet pageant (all for free), to be performed on the final weekend of Lowdown Wax.