Robert Askins's 'Hand to God'

The fact that this demon takes the form of a hand puppet is the hilarity (as well as the disquiet) of Hand to God, the new pitch-black comedy that is rocking Broadway with laughter and more than a tinge of unease.

Tyrone, the demon-puppet, is an extension of the left hand of Jason (Steven Boyer), a troubled teenager whose mother, Marge (Geneva Carr), runs a puppet theater workshop in the basement of a church somewhere in Texas. It’s therapy for Marge, who has just lost her husband, and she brings along the repressed, depressed Jason who is grieving for his father. But as Marge and her pupils (clueless Jessica and randy Timothy) prepare their handiwork, it’s clear that Jason is taking the task too literally. By the end of scene one, Jason’s puppet Tyrone has become a formidable force, one who functions independent of his creator. As for Tyrone’s persona, he looks like a cuddly cousin to a Muppet, with gray sock skin and a shock of red wool hair. But don’t be deceived — he’s a blaspheming, scheming fiend with the foulest mouth on Broadway.

Tyrone, you see, has become Jason’s alter ego, or id, or obscene evil twin — whatever you want to call him, he’s taken control of Jason completely. This dangerous, demonic puppet attacks everyone who threatens Jason, including Timothy (who engages Jason’s mother in one of the wildest consensual sex scenes I’ve ever seen on stage), as well as Pastor Greg, who also loves Marge and tries to woo her with the Word instead. By the end of Act One, the terrifying Tyrone, always an extension of Jason’s hand, has wrought havoc, barricading himself (and Jason) in the church basement, trashing the place, and creating a Kingdom of Darkness.

Exorcism via deus ex machina

In Act Two, the rest of the characters plot an exorcism to rid poor Jason of the satanic Tyrone. How they do that represents the funniest 50 minutes on Broadway this spring. I won’t spoil what happens, beyond revealing that it involves a deus ex machina in the form of another hand puppet, who joins with Tyrone in the wildest puppet show you’ll ever see.

Steven Boyer’s dual performance as Jason and his hand puppet is positively amazing. He’s required to play two dramatis personae simultaneously for two hours straight, requiring intricate, almost superhuman dexterity. At times, Jason and Tyrone actually converse with each other, and we forget that Boyer’s left hand is a puppet, accepting it as a full-fledged character. It’s a dazzling theatrical tour de force. Moritz von Stuelpnagel directs at a dizzying speed, and his company is cast to pitch-perfection.

The brilliance of Hand to God, written by newcomer Robert Askins, is that, ultimately, it’s quite a serious coming-of-age play, involving a troubled teenager, isolated in grief and misunderstood by the well-meaning but misguided folks who surround him. The playwright appears to be saying that blind faith isn’t the answer to personal and spiritual crisis. As Jason struggles violently to rid himself of his demons on his own, the play plunges deeper into the murky waters of religion and its failure to address the profound, complex issues of the human soul. There’s a dark side to each of us that can’t be exorcised, the play seems to indicate. And perhaps it shouldn’t be.

“Maybe someday we won’t need that puppet show anymore,” Tyrone says toward the play’s cryptic close. Then he adds: “The thing about a savior is you never know where to look.”