What I liked
The story was an important one – the experience of being seriously sick, then dying, questioning the dying, and also the after-effects of both the ailment and death experience. I liked the story telling aspect, the character impressions (very good!), and the crazy puppet.
What I didn't like
I did not like the tarot card bit – not necessary in fact confusing and not necessary to tell this story. I did not like the magic either as it was poorly performed and/or just too simplistic. A big distraction from an otherwise good performance—and also completely unnecessary for telling the story. There’s a menu of methods to tell a story, but for this one – tarot (especially involving a child in the audience – or anyone for that matter) and clumsy magic I would not have chosen.
My overall impression
I liked this – except for a few things my theater-goer-friend and I thought detracted/distracted from an otherwise important story. It was a something of a docu-play – bringing to life a very serious incident (and its aftermath) in a very unusual manner – e.g. using tarot card readings, magic, and a very odd puppet, impersonations, along with good old-fashioned story telling.
