But all is not well under the Big Top. Thanks to the ownership by, and bottom line consciousness of large corporations, the romance of the circus is long gone. Once there was a guy cleaning up after the elephants, now he’s called a Defecation Engineer. Once there were heroes and hero worshipers, now, no one believes in heroes any more. Heroes are relics of the past, a sideshow, nothing more than freaks.

This is the message Kevin Augustine of Philadelphia has cleverly crafted into his almost one man show, The Big Top Machine. Assisted by two invisible puppeteers Kevin tells the story of a dreamer, an idealistic young man who wants to do only one thing in this world-- to be a “hero.” He attempts to fulfill his dream under the Big Top.

Through a series of flashbacks, Kevin acts out the hero’s literal rise and fall. Kevin slips in and out of a variety of characters including a yellow wigged, broad chested lion tamer, a down on his luck skid row bum, and a naive caped “hero.”

Kevin uses his puppets sparingly. A polyfoam ring master and a miniature version of the caped “hero” come to mind. But it’s Kevin’s fluid acting that dominates and drives the story toward its bitter sweet end. Ridiculed by children and shunned by the circus, the “hero” can only find solace in a company of characters straight out of the 1932 “Freaks” film. At last the “hero” is with his own kind.

The Big Top Machine is billed as a work-in-progress. Some scenes are too long and Kevin goes off on humerous tangents that only dilute the story rather than support it. But in spite of a few odd ramblings, this show has the potential to make us wish for an innocence we have lost forever.

Copyright © 1999 Donald Devet