January 27, 2009
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Tent Show Dreams
Two nights in a row, I have dreamed about a tent show. It isn’t a classic Big Top. The tent is small, its performance space intimate, with a half shell of backstage area cupping it.
Performances are not classic circus acts, either. Nothing is as it seems. What looks like unscripted audience participation is all part of the regular cast’s act. Acts so tightly timed they apparently must be well rehearsed are really improvised on the spot. A monotonous rhythmic monologue by a grinning clown consists of a story of horror and pain that is anything but repetitious.
There is no live audience except for a few performers who pause to watch the action in between their turns. All are playing to unobtrusive cameras and a remote, unseen, audience. Scenes shift smoothly and unobtrusively, with no effort to disguise the action. Costuming is understated and sets are stylized. Costume changes are swift, and sometimes done over on a moment’s notice to accommodate another player’s color choices. Technical tricks appear as magic, such as a handful of solvent tossed at a frog costume that dissolves to reveal a seal underneath.
Dramatic tension comes from the players’ efforts to please a demanding boss, and to support and assist the clown whose life is falling apart, while their own lives involve complicated interactions with each other and others beyond the show. The whole show is colorful, cinematic and intricately varied. I mentioned only one of many innovative technical tricks. I hope the series continues. I want to look more closely at technical details and see what develops next in the backstage story.
Comments (10)
Sounds exactly like watching Fox News! heehee
Fascinating. It would be neat to be able to paint what you see.
I envy your ability to recall your dreams.
Xgram–I blogged, as zoklet.net seems to be down. Also, I got the poster–many thanks, it is just what I desired.
wow…so, are you aware, during sleep or dreaming, that you are truly dreaming? just curious. I’ve heard some people say that they have that awareness.
@myhuckleberryfriend09 - That’s lucid dreaming, and I do it sometimes, but usually not. I do it less now than I did 20-30 years ago when I first learned how. Now, I usually let my dreams entertain and inform me, instead of taking control of them.
i remember dreams and they often guide me. Finding out what they mean is half the fun!
Such a cool dream. I don’t dream or don’t remember them if I do.
Sounds like the taping of a soap opera. I wonder what it all means.
Interesting. I would like a dream like that… I’ve beend dreaming of people trying to hurt me lately. Not nearly as cool.
what a facinating journey you have taken in your dream. Sassy