Meat and Potato, the low-fi theatre company devoted to reviving disused devices such as puppetry and masks, has taken on Rashomon as their latest experiment. Is this a good idea? No, it’s a great idea, which makes it all the more disappointing that the show, despite the obvious care and labor that has gone into it, arrives half-formed.

The story, of course, is so iconic that its title has become shorthand for any situation wherein contradictory accounts of what happened are equally plausible, or — that sticky little word — true. M&P founder Tobin Atkinson has written his own adaptation of the same Ryunosuke Akutagawa short stories that inspired Akira Kurosawa’s landmark 1950 film of the same title. In Atkinson’s restaging, this prismatic tale of a bandit, a samurai, and his wife, told from the point of view of each character, benefits from some inspired stunt-casting. In each retelling, we see only the face of that version’s narrator; the other two characters are Bunraku puppets. It’s a brilliant use of the device, and the puppeteers are skillful. There’s even some puppet-swordplay that’s on par with the puppet-swordplay featured in Maribou Mines’ production of Peter and Wendy at Arena Stage last summer, and those folks don’t have day jobs.

Image of actor Marynell Hinton trying to fend off an attacker — or is she? — in Meat and Potato’s adaptation of Rashomon.