From: Ed Atkeson <edatkeson-AT-earthlink.net> Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 15:50:36 -0500 To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Making powerful stories Michael >>> Please don't take from my earlier post that I am anti- comedy or anything like that. Rather I simply want to see if I can learn to craft stronger work in general by not depending on it, for its inherent audience appeal. Diversify my palate of content. ---------------------------------- Do you remember that youtube clip of a street puppeteer who had a single puppet on a small table just silently dying? It was a marionette, and the puppet was crawling, clearly at the edge of his life, crawling across the table. I think that was all there was to it. I'll never forget it. No comedy in that one. No talking either but there was excellent... what? choreography? Acting? >>> Having said this, I've been thinking much lately about what role it should or should not play in this piece I'm working on about the Civil Rights struggle here in Mississippi. As I've written before about this project, it looks at some pretty grim events that took place in the American south..... with the amazing, startlingly brave responses of Black Americans to respond to them mostly with quiet courage and non-violence. A heroic tale, but one woven with tragedy. I see that, for example, in MACBETH, that WS felt it was a cathartic necessity to include a drunken porter as comic relief. I see where in most of his works, Bertholdt Brecht also felt that comedy should run simultaneously through his stories that are hardly "funny ". So I'm pondering the psycological dynamic here.... wondering how I could/should include it in my own play. Wondering what the "rules " of comic relief might be, for effective manipulation of the audience in being able to deliver a work that is troubling. ... yet not burn them out to the degree they can't receive it. --------------------------------- Michael, I think it's best to follow your personal inclinations. I think it's possible to make a fully formed powerful piece without any comic element, but don't listen to me. :) >>> The wayang format I work in is probably one of the most language-based of the puppet formats, since the puppets have the least amount of movement potential. In this work, I'm aiming for a combination of terse, potent dialogue and a n amount of visual richness to convey the story, in addition to those kinetic contributions that puppet movement can offer in this case. I like your idea of writing a movement plan as a component of the script....especially if the movements are specific to conveying a certain intention. ---------------------------------- As I see it, the design of puppet action usually takes the form of simply knowing what to do with the puppet. It's not actually written down anywhere. You tell your puppeteer what the puppet has to do, or if you're doing it yourself the movement is obvious. But you are "writing" it in effect, like a dance piece. I'm trying to go in the direction of more motion, less talking. Not a puppet dumbshow exactly, just more balance. I have a friend who pushes me in this direction and I think he's right. "Too many words! Let the puppet make his magic little world." best, Ed I'm rewriting a script with about 30 characters, but a max of 5 or 6 per scene. It's a scream. Vvedenski's "Christmas at the Ivanovs" 1928. _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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