(re)Search my Trash

<body> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="800" cellpadding="0" height="100%"> <tr> <td width="100" rowspan="2" background="../stylepix/square.gif" valign="top">  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="592" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="592"> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> </table>    <p>Russia, the early 20th century: Tsarina Alexandra (voiced by Amy Bowles) sends for mystic and healer Rasputin (Jamie Shannon) as her youngest son and heir to the throne Alexei has fallen sick from haemophilia, and all traditional medicine (basically leeches) has amounted to naught. Somehow Rasputin manages to heal the little man, and as a thank you is given free reign of the castle by the Tsarina, who also becomes his mistress. And Rasputin, a party animal when he's not healing people, makes good use of it, indulging in all sorts of vices without reservation. Eventually, it's prophecied that the House of Romanov will rule Russia as long as Rasputin dies a natural death. But who of course would want to kill the harmless Rasputin? Prince Felix (Marty Stelnick), that's who, who despises Rasputin's ever growing influence on the Tsarina, and who apparently would rather see Rasputin dead than for his family to rule forever. But Rasputin isn't easy to kill ...<p> <p>Now if you're looking for a historical accurate retelling of the legend of Rasputin, then you're wrong here, as this puppet short is a broad comedy that only fleetingly touches upon the facts and is really more interested in satire and farce - and it does a magnificent job at it, as the script's just really funny and finds the right balance between sight gagsand oneliners, and driving a story, the puppets are really fitting their characters, going for gross stylization when needed but never coming across as just blunt, and the attention to detail shows the heart that has gone into this production.<p>Totally worth a look for sure! <p>  <p>By the way, you can check out the whole <b><i>Handmade Puppet Dreams</i></b>-series here: <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/v/handmadepuppetdreams" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/v/handmadepuppetdreams</a></b> - and for the UK it's <b><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/v/handmadepuppetdreams" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.co.uk/v/handmadepuppetdreams</a></b> <p>  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="100" rowspan="2" background="../stylepix/squareright.gif" valign="top">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top">  <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> currentyear = "2020"; </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/endcredits.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> dosworsdonn(); </SCRIPT> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </body>