Everyone, I
woke up so sick this morning. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t move.
While that’s a
personal problem, how does it transfer to stage? How can you make the audience
feel sick?
I’ve seen some
Eastern European Theater where the purpose seems not to tell the American Dream
of an underdog fighting harder and winning it all… but of someone who has done
wrong and is doing everything they can do lower and dirty themselves – trying
to get that wrongness out of them.
Is that the
same thing? I don’t know!
But invert
your aesthetic. Winning is covered in mud, naked in a wheelbarrow being spat
upon by someone you love… because they “get” you… all of you. The ugly you. The
sinful you. The violent you.
If you must,
show us why this person thinks they deserve it.
*********
Given my "skin of my
teeth" brand of timing and luck the last 6 hours or so, I'm not taking any
chances and I'm gonna post this early while I have a window of internet access
I can count on.
It ain't pretty, but it's
decent enough as a rough outline from which I can push to build a scene with a
little more forward motion in it. Next
draft -
Another Sarah - Auggie
scene (I am once again heavily indebted to Eli Effinger-Weintraub's Very Rough
Guide to Neo-Paganisms. Thanks, Eli!)
*********
AUGGIE
Tell
me about your holidays.
SARAH
There
are eight. A lot of people call it The
Wheel of the Year. It's all keyed off of
the solstices and equinoxes, the lengthening and shortening of the days and
nights.
AUGGIE
The
light and dark, the warm and cold.
SARAH
I
like to start with All Hallows, or Samhain*, partly because it falls around
Halloween for everybody else. It's the
midpoint between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. It's the New Year for us. A time of new beginnings, as well as a celebration
of the dead. The veil between our world
and the world of the dead is very thin at this time.
*(pronounced
SOW-en)
AUGGIE
Then
you get to the Winter Solstice.
SARAH
Yule. The longest night of the year and the
shortest day.
AUGGIE
Quiet
time.
SARAH
Sometimes
I stay up all night, communing with the dark and celebrating the return of the
light at sunrise, the lengthening of the days going forward.
AUGGIE
Then
halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox -
SARAH
Is
Candlemas, or Imbolc, or Brigid.
AUGGIE
Like
the name?
SARAH
Yes,
a Celtic goddess of beekeeping and artisans.
The lengthening of the days starts to be more obvious. More new beginnings and initiations. Farm animals tend to be pregnant or giving
birth. Time to break out the cheese and
honey.
AUGGIE
And
art.
SARAH
And
art.
AUGGIE
Then
the Vernal Equinox.
SARAH
Ostara
- perfect balance between light and darkness with daylight on the rise. A pause just before spring is truly sprung
and all living things go a little crazy.
AUGGIE
Then
midway between Vernal Equinox and Summer Solstice -
SARAH
May
Day, or Beltane - focused heavily on the fertility of the sexual union of the
Goddess and God.
AUGGIE
Oh
really?
SARAH
Yes,
really. Though fertility can be
intellectual and emotional as well as seuxal.
AUGGIE
Creativity.
SARAH
A
lot of crossover between you and me, yes.
Also, it's International Workers Day, so activism.
AUGGIE
The
rights of workers and all people to have a decent way of life. On to the Summer Solstice -
SARAH
Midsummer,
the longest day of the year, and the shortest night.
AUGGIE
So
you can party all night and still not overdo it.
SARAH
One
last chance to harness the full power of the sun before the days start getting
shorter again.
AUGGIE
Halfway
between Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox -
SARAH
First
Harvest, or Lammas, or Lughnassah* - celebration of the first harvest,
generally grains. Another time for
everyone to gather -
*
(pronounced LOO-na-SAH)
AUGGIE
-
since everyone would normally congregate at harvest time anyway.
SARAH
Exactly. This is more of a bread holiday. I know bread is considered the enemy of
physical fitness and the waist line these days.
AUGGIE
It
is a special occasion. For you, I shall
eat bread.
SARAH
Why
thank you, sir.
AUGGIE
Autumnal
Equinox?
SARAH
Mabon
- perfect balance again between daylight and nighttime, this time with darkness
on the rise. A pause to gather your
resources before things die or go into hibernation during the dark months.
AUGGIE
And
then we're back around to All Hallows and the Halloween/New Year.
(to be continued)
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