GALAHAD'S FOOL offers a glimpse of backstage reality unadorned by glitter but blessed with a hardscrabble magic.

A year after the death of his wife and co-creator, a grizzled puppeteer struggles to build a solo show. It's to be a lightweight spoof--an aging Sir Galahad launching a second mad quest for the Grail--but his heart isn't in it. When he envisions a peasant being flayed and a frail Fool named Sammy Shitpants appears, his play turns sharply personal. Albert sees that his show won't be for kids and probably not so funny.

The story swings between Albert wrestling with the gnarly process of creating his off-beat puppet show and the fantastic narrative itself. While the Knight prepares his army--no solo knight-errant nonsense but a serious campaign--the Fool teaches the lonely wife Mara to juggle, and in desperation to follow her husband, she changes guises with the frail androgynous Fool. The quest becomes a mindless bloodbath, plague strikes, and Galahad and his Lady Fool alone survive as derelicts staggering through a futuristic dystopia.

Meanwhile, Albert's costumer Jeanette has claimed a deep stake in the project and awakens his latent desire. Their conflicts lead them into bed--a clumsy comedy, but laughter and the project create an ambivalent bond.

On opening night, Jeanette tells him she's moving to Knoxville. Albert is shaken but steps forward into the play. At the climax, horsemen approach at a gallop, the Fool is trampled, dies in Galahad's arms, and is revealed as his wife. His tears fill a battered cup, and he drinks from the Grail.

In the final performances, Albert finds kinship with Galahad's despair and dogged vision. After closing night, Albert turns his battered Honda eastward. Jeanette has invited a visit, and he opens to the risk of new love.