X-Rated Muppet Show Becomes The Talk Of A European Fringe Festival
Posted August 10, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There are a lot of things that have changed in the world over the last few years, but you might not have expected this one – an X-rated Muppet Show.
It’s true. Kermit the Frog may be green, but in a new show taking place at a Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, he’s turning the air blue.
But it’s not just an amateur production taking advantage of some of the world’s most beloved unreal stars. The man behind this restricted ruckus is none other than Brian Henson – the heir to the Muppet throne and the son of the characters’ creator, the late Jim Henson.
There are two shows on display at the festival. The first, an afternoon affair for the kids, is pretty much what you’d expect.
But at night, the kids are gone and so is any sense of decorum. There are no specific reviews about just what goes on during the later performance of “Jim Henson’s Puppet Improv” – and we probably couldn’t print the dialogue anyway – but if you know the uncontrolled anarchy of the Muppets, it won’t take much imagination to envision the results.
The show is mostly unscripted and relies on suggestions from the audience – a kind of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” with felt.
“It is lovely to do a show where you can go wherever your brain takes you,” Henson grins.
But would his father approve of where his son is taking his cherished creations? “I think he would have loved it because of how outrageous I get,” he answers. “My dad really believed in community and sweetness but the other side of him was incredibly naughty.
“He always said the only reason we did this was those moments where it is like laughing in church. It becomes so infectious you cannot stop laughing.”
Henson has performed the show before, once in Hollywood and again in Aspen. So will you ever have a chance to see it?
You might.
There are plans in the works to turn it into a TV show.
It’s one the Sesame Street crowd shouldn’t be allowed to watch. Because it will be brought to you by the letter “X”.
Miss Piggy would be horrified.
