Years ago, there was a girl, (we will call her The Performer), who landed the leading role in the theater.
National Theater of Iceland courtesy of Didaskalia
Not only did she get the lead part, she got Producer, Director, Casting Coordinator and Prop Master.
The only thing she was given was the title of the play.
The title was, and is, "Life".
No limits, no boundaries... only complete
freedom in how she chooses to act out this story and
communicate it with her audience.
Like the renaissance troupes before her, there have been times when she shields her face by masks. Once the masks are touched by "the Performer", they become props, material objects used to enrich the storyline and add character,(Untouched, they simply remain set decorations).
The Performer likes to touch, therefore she has many props. Most of her props are French Antiques. Like the Greek masks of comedy and tragedy, French Antiques help her enrich her story. They are props that communicate emotion and without emotion, there is no life.
She wants to know the gift of the blind. . .
For her fingertips to act as eyes and feel more than just the uneven grain of an old plank antique floor. She wants to touch more than the expression, on the chiseled face of a marble bust. She wants to be connected to the beautiful thoughts of the creator, who can only enrich her spirit and in the end, that is all she has to give.
Her hand will graze the plaster walls and she will know the stories held within their age. She will take in the curved lines and decorative motifs of the Louis XV furniture, and sense the influence of Madame Pompadour. You see, these props of hers, help her to tell a more intimate side of her story.
Her hand will follow the stitches entwined with love, that are passed through generations and remind her that joyous moments live forever and when shared, are doubled.
These props, they give her the means for self reflection, they remind her she is the director and the performer. She chooses how long to hold up any mask before her face. (look closely, do you see the reflection in the floor)?
As not to fall into the vast sea of sameness, her creativity needs not set decoration, but props. The performer is of the belief that her spirit carries with it, something that is greater than self. It is not something that can be seen, only touched.
She often contemplates her story and carries with her pieces of the past, to form the present.
This is just a random page from "The Performer's" play.
Set location photos are via Shootfactory, a wonderful site I found via Di at DesignersBlock
Bisou and Happy Halloween
