A LITTLE PEEP GOES A LONG WAY

The artistry is extraordinary,
even when individual stories fall short

It begins like clockwork when October comes around: there’s a fresh nip in the air, the leaves start to turn, the streaming services are suddenly inundated with scary movies, and that unholy blend of cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice—also known as “pumpkin spice”—takes over the bakeries and cafes. To all these signposts of autumn, I’d like to add a new(er) October tradition: Rough House Puppet Arts’ annual haunted-house-with-puppets show, House of the Exquisite Corpse, the sixth iteration of which is now in performance at Steppenwolf’s Merle Raskin space.

Taking its name from the surrealist parlor game invented in the 1920s, Rough House’s annual show involves six spooky scenes, set in enclosed spaces scattered through the room. The audience is led into a small antechamber where the rules are explained to them through headphones (of surprisingly high quality). We then proceed into the main space and huddle around a structure with peepholes cut into it at various heights. You put on another pair of headphones, find an opening at eye level, lean in, and take in the scene that unfolds beyond.

LULLABIES is the theme chosen for 2026, which gives this year’s show a more defined throughline than last year’s gleefully anarchic Blood and Puppets. The chills start with the entry chamber, where the walls are adorned with a motif that will transport you directly to the night terrors of childhood: trembling under the covers in the hope that the monster under your bed will go away if it can’t see you.

All six rooms are wonderfully imaginative, and the craftsmanship in every one of them is beyond criticism. But this is horror, that genre most tied to individual psychoses and traumas, and further, this is horror that takes its inspiration from childhood fears. As with any anthology, some stories are more effective than the others, but the ones that creep you out the most will likely depend on your personal bugaboos.

That qualification out of the way, let’s dive in, from least to best. Creators and performers are all listed at the end of the review.

“All Night, All Day” (#1) and “(love is) A Mother’s Burden” (#4), oddly enough, were my least-liked of the six rooms. Odd because they are in stark contrast to each other. “All Night, All Day” is the most obtuse of the rooms. There are elements of electronic and noise pollution and their concomitant environmental damage, but it didn’t quite come together for me. The vision behind “(love is) A Mother’s Burden,” on the other paw, is possibly the strongest of the six rooms, but its overreliance on narration overwhelms the imagination of the set-up. The creators do some marvelous work with seams on a scrim. Take a closer look. It also boasts an evocative, original score.

Somewhere in between are “Jumping Jack Money” (#5) and “Don’t you want to live your dream?” (#6). The former is the most overtly political of the rooms and cleverly involves tactile participation from the audience. It’s a bit on the nose but enormously effective. The latter is the most nightmarish of the rooms, operating purely on dream logic. It’s also technically astounding, creating three stages within the space—I’ll leave you to discover just how.

Given my obsession with mythology and folklore, it’s hardly surprising that I adored “The Moon Is So Bright” (#3) and “Hushaby hush, you’re not going with them” (#2). With a gorgeous Cantonese folksong as its soundtrack, “The Moon Is So Bright” spins a folktale around the birth of a child into a shrimp-fishing family, and follows them into adulthood. It’s the least scary of the six rooms, but interestingly enough, contains two of the most striking visual elements in Lullabies; both of them still creations in a landscape of movement.

And “Hushaby hush, you’re not going with them” is a glorious mélange of the Brothers Grimm, Washington Irving, and Poe, beautifully incorporating into its story one of the oldest and most timeless tropes of young people’s literature: the resourcefulness of the child in the absence of adults. Who doesn’t love a plucky heroine? If I were Charlie Malave and Caitlin McLeod, I would turn this into a children’s book but quick. Maybe a book with pop-up paper puppets? Seriously, get a move on that.

Directed by Corey Smith, LULLABIES is a triumph. I do wish, as I did last year, that more would be done with the inherent voyeurism of the experience—to me it’s still the creepiest aspect of the entire show—but I’m not going to quibble over that. And yes, I’ve ranked the rooms, but that’s a requirement of my commission, and a reflection of my personal neuroses. What fears lurk in your own subconscious? Take a trip down to Lincoln Park and find out.

CREATORS & PERFORMERS

Room 1: “All Night, All Day”
Creators: Vim Hile, Tanima
Performers: Camille Mitchell, Casey Doe

Room 2: “Hushaby hush, you’re not going with them”
Creators: Charlie Malave, Caitlin McLeod
Performers (alternating pairs): Finn Bradley, Eddy Barber-Rozema, Rachel Hartmann, Emilie Wingate

Room 3: “The Moon Is So Bright”
Creators: Saskia Bakker, Ruby Que
Performers: Khalil Smith, Alexander Ferguson

Room 4: “(love is) A Mother’s Burden”
Creators: Leah Lara, Dionne
Performers: Sam Lewis, Tia Pinson

Room 5: “Jumping Jack Money”
Creators: Madigan Burke, Zhen Heinemann, Andy Slater
Performers: Lindsey Ball, Candice Conner

Room 6: “Don’t you want to live your dream?”
Creators: Felix, Abby Palen
Performers: Mallory Kimbrell, Shannon Twenter

Lobby Installations
Creators: Jacqueline Wade, Sion Silva

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photos by Greg Inda

House of the Exquisite Corpse VI: LULLABIES
Rough House Puppet Arts
The Merle at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1624 N. Halsted St. in Chicago
60 minutes
Thu.–Sat., timed entries every 15 minutes from 6:50 to 9:30; Sun. matinees beginning at 1:50
ends on November 1, 2026
for tickets (pay what you can; suggested $22–$47), visit Rough House Puppet Arts

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

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