Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:26:46 EST
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Narration ~ When and how to Use it..


What I have to say about narration may be of no help to you at all, since  
you are undertaking a tale with tragic overtones. However, many of our shows  
have narrators, and much depends on the nature of the narrator. If it is told by 
 a child to another child, they start arguing over how the story should go, 
and  negotiating about the ending, confusing the characters. If we use an old  
woman, she sends the characters off to do impossible deeds, and they complain  
and fuss when she has no sympathy for their trials. When we use a young lady, 
 she develops a confrontational relationship with one of the characters. Our  
Chinese storyteller gets extremely upset and incoherent when the characters 
get  confused about his instructions.Our old Black storyteller acts like a 
school  librarian, fussing at the characters to behave properly in front of the  
children.  All our narrators are different, and have their own  personalities 
and their own agendas. The common thread here is that we tend to  place the 
fairytale in a state of flux where any number of things can change.  Keeps us 
from being bored.
 
In your case, it seems the old woman is the ideal storyteller. Since she  
appears at intervals, and has knowledge of the events which steps outside of the  
normal boundaries, and directs events as well, she seems best. And most 
children  accept an old woman as storyteller/wise woman. If you are needing extra 
time to  make scene changes, or something like that, she might also sing, or 
cast a  singing spell. She might advise the children to help the story along by  
imagining a scene, then when the scene appears, possibly one piece at a time, 
 she can compliment them on such a good job. We've done that. We have also  
fussed at the kids for making the frogs so big, and asking who was responsible  
for making them that size. Several hands always go up.
 
Cheers,
Alice 
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