The curtain goes up and you are welcomed to the tinsel-infused cabaret of the Scarlet St theatre. The violin strings fade away to a raging disco beat and the histrionic Eliza Swan kicks off the night’s performance, throwing herself pathetically around the stage as he/she delivers a powerful medley of lovelorn showstoppers, imploring the audience to “help me if you can, I’m feeling down,” and that she does appreciate us being round. This is theatre owner Barry Von Peabody’s world, or, should we say, it is the world of the man who is pretending to be Barry Von Peabody. Cue appropriate sound effects and smoke machine for childhood flashback to Nazi Germany.

Based in an unassuming and intimate backyard theatre in Brunswick, every performance has a pre-raffle show for one lucky audience member to win a delicately handcrafted puppet. With only 12 seats per show, the odds are looking good and tickets come with a complimentary glass of wine or homebrewed beer.

Simply put, ‘The Cautionary Tale of Barry Von Peabody’ is a delicious morsel of puppetry balanced with all the other essential ingredients of script, sound, lighting and design. A pint-sized tragicomedy of the first degree, performer and creator Jacob Williams has created a show that is heartwarming in an offbeat kind of way. Lured into pathos by the death of Peabody’s wife and Steph O’Hara’s moving sound design, audiences are steered firmly back into comic waters as Peabody is criticised for the ridiculously inappropriate sequined outfit he has worn to the funeral (costume changes are hard for puppets.) Weaving love, death, contortionists, whales and magicians into one dynamic, self-referential piece of theatre, ‘The Cautionary Tale of Barry Von Peabody’ will not disappoint.

X promises “Pirates!,  “Puppets!” and “Adventure!”, and it certainly delivers. The highlight of the show is by far the craftsmanship and use of the puppets themselves. With puppetry direction by Penelope Bartlau, the show is an impressive example of the possibilities of expression that the genre can offer. Not only are the monster characters and actor counterparts seamless in their choreography, X also combines clever shadow puppetry and silhouettes for harder-to-stage scenes, including the appearance of an unexpected (although not entirely unwelcomed) speedo-clad, demon-eyed Tony Abbot puppet as a monster of the deep.

Considering he had a younger target audience in mind, writer Robert Reid’s script felt a little more wordy than was perhaps necessary, and could have benefited from more faith in the actors and puppets to use their physicality for the comedy. The show is not without some good one-liners, however the biggest laugh from the night came from a young audience member who, during a tension-filled sword fight, pondered aloud as to whether the swords were “made in China?”

A great show to take your 7-year-old godson to see and thus make up for forgetting his birthday last year. Not one for your sullen 13-year-old though. X is one for the family, and for anyone else who wants to support independent arts companies (and doesn’t mind a good sea-zombie routine).

Although the play has been transported into a nondescript future (in the ‘suits and ties for businessmen’ sense of the word, rather than the ‘Robin Williams creepy Bicentennial Man’ sense), the play finds its freshness in a projector screen forming part of an otherwise minimalist set that has live tweeting and texting throughout the performance. Designed to “provide additional commentary” on the play as well as allowing for audience interaction, it quickly becomes clear that, although witty in some parts, its primary purpose is not so much to add to the audience’s appreciation of the plot as it is to translate the dialogue. Hardcore Shakespeare purists will protest that if the acting is good enough, you shouldn’t need to spell out the character’s motivations; however others will be grateful for the handholding.

Credit must be given to the performance of Gary Sinclair as the common “fool” ‘Launce’. The character is reminiscent of the gravedigger from ‘Hamlet’ and Sinclair delivers the role with great presence and comic timing. He is upstaged only by his onstage dog. As one audience member tweeted: “Can the best tweeter keep the puppy?” There is inconsistency with the cast as a whole in terms of accent. While some shoot for a stylised British accent, others are unashamedly Australian in their delivery and the overall effect feels unconsidered.

Overall ‘2 Gentlemen’ is not a bad night out. Certainly one for the Shakespeare fans. And anyone with a mannequin fetish.