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Another Two Weeks with Bread & Puppet Theater: Part V 1/3/2005 8:32:31 AM
World on Fire: Hands of the World
It is hard to know the full extent of what happens in a show like "World on Fire" as the troupe of puppeteers remain behind a curtain, segregated from the Red Clowns and the Asymmetric Prisoners of War Orchestra, only having musical and verbal cues to tell us to prepare for the fire chief to open the curtain for another episode of the dumb show. Only glimpses during rehearsal and an outline of scenes posted back stage add to our knowledge. So, I transcribed the scene list into my notebook:
World on Fire
1.) Cantastoria
2.) Sketches followed by dumb shows
A.) The media reported the fire.
(But the world didn't know, Sleeper)
B.) Science Verified it
(World Got Alarmed, Sleeper extended)
C.) Dept. of Defense issued an emergency alert
(hands of the world protested)
D.) Congress Advocated Funding
(Feet of the world ran away)
E.) President ordered an investigation
(Clouds fall from the sky)
F.) Industry Developed Models
(Sleepers of the World United)
3.) Internationale
The clowns play out their skits to their own cantastoria, often resplendent with puns, air guitar, and a script that has a stream of consciousness logic to it. The lines are funny, but just as I never see the Kaspar acts in the various circuses B&P has staged, I never see the zany antics of the clown acts.
The hands of the world are large panels of corrugated cardboard backed with wood glue affixed wooden strips arranged in a haphazard manner. When the curtain is pulled open by the Fire Chief these hands are large enough to hide the entire body of a crouching puppeteer. We are tightly packed into three rows between the dumb show proscenium and the back curtain, holding still until we hear the first call of "hey" or "no" or "yo" from the Asymmetrical Prisoners, at which point we raise our hands up in a protest that increases in intensity. A large bundle of metal junk is slowly hoisted up by pulley and rope until it reaches its highest point and crashes down onto a panel of corrugated aluminum. The noise causes us to freeze. The Fire Chief closes the curtain and we relax and in turn exit under the rear curtain to the back stage area and collect our feet puppets.
