When I buy a ticket for a puppet show, I expect the smaller scale, DIY theater that exists in the realm of the handheld. 

In my admittedly limited experience, puppet stagings are generally shrunk down into a more two-dimensional, contained-in-miniature space that can be easily puppeteered within the wingspan of a set of hands. 

Sure, there are blown-out examples like The Lion King and War Horse, but their puppetry is shaped by an integration with human bodies in plain sight. 

Dead as a Dodo, now at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, counters this trend; it’s the rare puppet show chock-full of action that utilizes the complete end-to-end scope of a human-sized stage, but without placing a visual emphasis on those human bodies.

Yes, we’re aware that the illusions we’re watching are created by corporeal contortions, but they’re in service of bringing to life a world of pure puppetry that expands and contracts beyond the typical marionette confines.