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Two Weeks with Bread & Puppet Theater: Part VI 12/16/2003 8:49:05 PM
Feet: Clothed and Unclothed 2
We return to the stage as students of the University of Hands and Feet. Down stage right, Vasilios is seated with a violin to his chin while Emily is seated at a toy piano. At center Justin and Eddie stand, each holding the gigantic hands of the sleeper puppet. Justin is our professor and Eddie is his teaching assistant. Peter, from his position as conductor of the Oratorio announces the six skills of hands and feet as Justin and Eddie explain and demonstrate. Emily and Vasilios play music to go with every exercise and interlude on toy piano and violin.
Over the production I develop my student persona: He is intensely curious about the things taught at the University of Hands and Feet, but since he has barely learned how to move I place the ecstatic eyes of Harpo Marx onto flexible and expressive spine of Buster Keaton so that my character can move his head about for the best view until he learns the skills of feet.
The first skill is caressing & embracing and is demonstrated first with the giant paper mache hands and a small doll. When it is our turn to try, we pick a partner and practice. I end up with a different partner every night of the run. Some people are more comfortable with this scene than others though most seem to be able to to enjoy it. After my roommates see the show one night one comments that I must be enjoying practicing this particular skill. I confess that I do, but the other lessons hold their own pleasures.
Our next lesson is putting hands into the dirt. A bucket of loam is introduced to the stage and a shovelful is spread across the paper mache hands as we are told to clean our hands of debris that would interfere with the dirt. Peter returns to the stage to tell us of the surprise that may come when we do it correctly. He rings a bell and Vasilios uses a pulley and rope to release flowers from above. Then loam is spread out before the first row of students and we are instructed to put our hands in the dirt. The ritual of doing this night after night makes it sensual and I never think of it as getting my hands dirty.
The final basic skill of hands is "Raising hands against the existing order of life." This one actually uses more of the body, including our knees and trunk. I add a character bit about sticking my tongue out as if an entirely new experience when Justin explains the tongue may be used, and then adjust my head to look at all the other parts of the body before it is our turn and we raise our hands up high and scream in protest.
Afterwards, the three basic skills of feet are taught. The first is "undressing & restoring feet to their original state." This is why I put my boots back on after the first scene: I have to take them off. The paper mache hands of the sleeper puppet are replaced by the feet each of which are wearing clothing. Eddie and Justin undress them and then invite us to do the same to Emily & Vasilios' music. I take off my boots and my socks and enjoy the feel of the dirt that was not swept off the stage moments ago.
The second basic skill of feet is "carrying body & soul to the appropriate place" and in the demonstration the body is played by a puppet of a lion and the soul by a cardboard flame (these two will return in the next scene-- I admire Schumann's ability to use one visual symbol and then place it in a different context just minutes later.) Justin and Eddie use the feet to demonstrate the motion of placing one foot after another and we follow.
The final skill is "Kicking the Arse of Government" and for this we need to put our shoes back on as we wait for the government. In walks the government as played by a puppet named "Uncle Fatso." Like the Kaspars, Uncle Fatso is a stock character of Bread & Puppet. He every bloated plutocrat and corrupt politician, his giant phallic cigar in hand ready for any secret dealings in a smoke filled room with other Fatsos. He presents his arse to us and we kick him. Fatso is guided off the stage and we share high fives and slaps on the back.
At this point end with the University Glee Club. Exactly what we sing varies over the first few nights but is set by the fourth night. I am later told that it is a Quaker hymn:
Oh how lovely is the evening is the evening, is the evening
When the bells are sweetly ringing, sweetly ringing, sweetly ringing.
