There’s no doubting the meticulous creativity of Space Hippo, a low-fi sci-fi epic from Book of Shadowz and Mochinosha Puppet Company. A story of environmental collapse and intergalactic warfare, plus a Hippo god, it’s told almost entirely through hand cut paper shadow puppetry. Over 200 of them, in fact, each meticulously hewn and each contributing to a clear overall aesthetic, somewhere between Star Wars, a very fiddly manga, and the Um Bongo drink cartons. Tableaus flash up for seconds which must have taken hours of painstaking sculpture. Some characters gesticulate as they talk, through clever articulation of their shadow limbs. Overlays are projected onto overlays as our main characters, a hippo and her food robot (‘cos hippos are hungry) drift across galaxies. No creative corner is cut. It’s a striking feat of artistry.
But it’s not always clear that this commitment to the cause serves the purpose. Storytelling is, in part, about efficiency and compression, else you’re left with the unfiltered meandering of children flexing their imaginative muscles. There’s rarely a sense that Space Hippo gives shape or prioritisation to its narrative beats, nor if it ends at a point of satisfaction or just because the hour is up. One senses that Seri Yanai and Daniel Wishes could just keep on going, leaping creatively without necessarily addressing the questions they pose at each creative flourish. Why are “the politicians” who have left us in the shit so mendacious? Why do the Andromedans and the Zetans make peace after their brutal intergalactic war? Why would the mercenary “Lizard Man” sacrifice himself to send Space Hippo on his path to Nirvana? This is earnest and imaginative but, lacking structure and direction, ultimately a little dull.
Space Hippo, Underbelly Cowgate, until 24 Aug (not 19), 12.30pm