fotoplay: on the horizon 3

Have you ever, while standing on a beach looking out at the horizon, felt that you were watching a theatrical production? I know I have, but even so, I honestly did not anticipate a creation such as the one above, that was emailed to me this morning for the Fotoplay Invitational. My friend Laura, and her six year old daughter Ella, collaborated once again to transform my Fotoplay prompt into this delightful, quintessentially playful puppet theater.

In her email, Laura wrote: When I printed your Fotoplay page and showed it to Ella, she said: “Mommy, they are waiting for a play to start. We have to make one!” So we did…

We cut out the rectangular space of the sky above the figures, and then mounted the rest of the page to a board cut with a window and hinged to a base. We made a simple curtain which we glued to the top of the window, then set open with ties.

Ella told me that she wanted to make three puppets: “a fish, water waves, and an owl.” She has been fascinated with owls ever since last month, when she first heard, then saw, a magnificent barred owl in a tree by her bedroom window. She believes that owls, with those large, steady eyes really do see everything. She believes that they can see through all walls, which means that she believes “her” owl is watching her while she sleeps.

After the puppets were made, Ella told me to turn off all of the lights, and to take a seat in front of the theater. She then began the show, speaking in the dark, as the owl, who was The Narrator. At this point I must tell you that my daughter, in effect, recreated “Under Milkwood,” and I, her generally cool and collected Mom, fairly burst, astonished but also crazy proud. It’s true that my partner Sophie and I share a strange love for Dylan Thomas. We often listen to our treasured “Caedmon Collection,” so naturally Ella has absorbed a great deal of Mr. Thomas. Especially “Under Milkwood,” which we’ve replayed countless times.

In Ella’s version (like Thomas’), the characters dream of each other. Her Omniscient Narrator Owl told the tale of a fish who dreamed only of the water, of swimming in the water, forever surrounded by the water. And the water dreamed only of the fish, of having the fish swim deep inside of him, forever. Quite quickly, in Ella’s version (unlike Thomas’), the fish and the water get together…and then the play was over. When she reached the end, I told her you were going to love seeing the photographs of the theater and her production. And the moment I said your name, her eyes grew as large as an owls. (She remembered our other project.)

Ella ran into her room, and returned with her two-faced doll, which she placed in front of her new puppet theater as a member of the audience.