Theatre Reviews Limited review of by Michael P. Belfiore "Big Top Machine" won an award for Overall Excellence in the category of Solo Show at the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival. And for good reason. Kevin Augustine commands the undivided attention of his audience in the opening moments of his play--and keeps it all the way through to a deeply moving finale. Using foam rubber puppets of his own creation, and assisted by two nearly invisible black-garbed helpers (Josh Cohen and Anna Kramer), he takes us through a greedy corporate circus whose performers struggle to hold on to the magic they once knew, to the shadowy and truly extraordinary realm that lies just beneath the surface. He's an old man hard on his luck as the play begins, begging for dollars in exchange for a story. No one takes him up on it, though. Not like in the old days, he says, before people let all the wonder go out of the world. The magic is still there, he tells us, for all who will listen. He dares us not to allow ourselves to be transported to the circus, not to feel the crushed grass under our feet, not to smell the pink sweet cotton candy nor to hear the ringmaster announcing our hero swaying at the top of a 215-foot pole high above the crowd. The audience cheered when Augustine appeared as the hero in tights and a red cape and began to climb the pole center stage. A boy at the back of the otherwise hushed theater gasped "he's falling" when he leapt, cape fluttering out behind him, out into empty space. Don't worry, growled the old storyteller, dangling a tiny puppet of the hero on wires. "He ain't falling nowhere. He got to go to the underworld first." Our hero is a man with a checkered past looking for a second start. He's following an old dream of a life in the circus, and for a while, it sustains him. That is, before he discovers that the corporation that runs the circus cares only about making a buck, that the children he thought were wide-eyed with excitement in the audience actually couldn't care less, and that his own hero, the ringmaster, is nothing but a puppet. A dream is an exceedingly rare and fragile thing, as we see when a bright-eyed and beaming woman lets one out of a wooden box in the form of a butterfly that flutters around our hero's head as he struggles to make sense of what is unfolding around him. What happens when such a dream is revealed as a sham made of cloth and wires? It endures, in spite of all, we discover. You need only to listen. Augustine makes masterful use of his puppets, truly bringing each to life. I gasped with delight along with the audience as each new wonder was revealed, and I was moved to tears by the story's conclusion. In short, I had the kind of theater experience one always hopes for, but only rarely enjoys. This show is absolutely not to be missed. Big Top Machine moves next to the Little Buffalo Arts Festival in Little Buffalo, PA, where it will be sponsored by Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour (PennPAT). The show will run there September 18-19. Call 717-567-7023 for more information. Also on the slate is a run at the Painted Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia, January 21-22. Call 215-925-9914 for information about that event. Augustine promises a return engagement in New York before long. Watch this space for future times and venues. "Big Top Machine" Written, performed, and with puppets crafted by Kevin Augustine. Soundtrack created by Sean McFaul. Lighting designed by Craig A. Young. Production and stage management by Sandra Giasulla. WITH: Josh Cohen and Anna Kramer (assistant puppeteers)