I gave a rehearsal of Purim Piggle Puppets today to my test audience, my daughter Hannah (aged 13). I kept the theatrical gestures to minimal, and my voice was intentionally flat.
Hannah said it was more interesting than a talk she had just given on The Handmaid's Tale at school, but also less expressive, more of a lecture than a performance.
A bit that I have worked out involving a pen I think is particularly effective in bringing about participation, and the one puppet in the show got a laugh, and there were occasional nods of recognition.
It is hard to say where to go with it from here. More objects? More participation? Less talk?
This blog concerns a project in development, a performance piece with the working title Purim Piggle Puppets. Part lecture, part participatory performance, part object performance, it deals with the origins of theatricality. There will be autobiographical elements. Play. Readings from psychoanalytic texts. And, oh yes, a Purim play by my father Dr. Donald J. Cohen (1940-2001) and a puppet of him too. All stereotypes about children of psychiatrists are absolutely true.
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