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Summary:
In this performance, a performer was hidden amongst the audience to represent a faery person living among mortals. The faery King and Queen (Oberon and Titania) were summoned to straighten out a troublesome situation created by two meddlesome faeries.
Principle:
The changeling mythos appears in a variety of cultures, from Egypt to Middle Europe. The basic premise of this folktale is that human infants would sometimes be switched with an infant from the world of fey in the middle of the night. The faery infant would misbehave, and may be physically or mentally lacking in some way. The changeling myth was often used as an explanation for birth defects, and unfortunately, torture or destruction of the infant frequently followed.
The tale of the changeling is written about in a nineteenth century poem by William Butler Yeats called The Stolen Child.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
Aesthetic:
Seattle sculptor Rus Geh created a very special setpiece for this production. Our towering 9' metal tree sculpture, which featured fire among its branches, served as the focal point for the production. Draped with real ivy and tealight candles, it was a lovely yet strong image of the magick of the forest.
Our meddlesome faeries were clad in striped tights and clothing draped with ivy, and spoke a faery tongue that was invented especially for this performance.
Oberon, the faery King wore a feathered headdress and dramatic facial decoration. Titania wore a costume which surrounded her with fire, and a decorative ivy garland with her silvery crown.
Our 'innocent bystander' in the audience was abducted by the faeries during the performance and dragged onto center stage, looking quite shocked. In one performance, an audience member even tried to protect him from thier advances!
The performance ended with Titania, Oberon, and the newcomer creating a pyramid of fire breathing to the steady beat of the forest drums, provided by the Let's Dance! House Band.
Retrospective:
This production was one of our most visually striking to date. The Spiral Tree and other special effects composed a very unique production.
Images
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