Disrehearsal (text)

Lowdown and background : mentor guru puppeteer holds court, dishing out orders ; dependant devotee disciple entourage gather round, attend to every slightest beck and call, run about like headless chickens, fall and trip over each other, pursue assigned missions from this higher command, eagerly anxious and willing to please, always vying to be favourite, not wanting to disappoint, never that. Wardrobe and accessories : assorted menage wear sloppy, ill-fitting and misshapen costumes (more circus-clown, than period haute-couture), that got shrunk or went bloated in the wash ; their discoloured carnival-mask and war-paint facial make-up and cosmetics clash, merge and run together ; they wield unreliable joke-shop novelty-toy props ; hair-piece wigs are same standard.

Cut to scholarly and learned study (with private personal reference library), set up in and occupying commandeered pantry (generously supplied on indefinite loan, with support from charitable patronage donor) : opportunistic thieving magpies, in the area, on the off-chance sneak their way in, getting through faulty and unguarded window. Having broken and entered, they anxiously turn their heads around, on the lookout, checking to establish that coast stays well and truly clear for them to come out to play and get down to work. A lone dice is come across. Ballgames and rounds of pass-the-parcel using this find, unknowingly select and finalise decisions from all options on offer. Suddenly, many questions, mysteries and secrets are answered, known and understood, as if by magic. Without even waiting to be asked or any prompting or encouragement needed at all, household contents start to swap around, exchange places and switch about, by themselves, motivated and driven by their own self-propelling intention.

Returning to main cast again : under instructions directed by mentor guru puppeteer, dependent devotee disciple entourage unpack and fit together collapsible and folding out, concertina, accordion, jack-in-the-box, cuckoo-clock and pop-up book toy-theatre stage-set scenery backdrops (home-grown from assembly kit form, but blown up out of all proportions, beyond real life size), all very much incomplete, with many components missing or substituted. Entire stage-set scenery backdrops are motorised, powered by cumbersome and broken down lawn-mower engines ; bulky, gas-guzzling, greasy, loud and temperamental, but faltering, inefficient, messy, unproductive and wasteful. Once properly up and running, stage-set scenery backdrops host 2 ceremonies : of, a.) crown-of-thorns starfish coronation for rise to the throne of mentor guru puppeteer ; and, b.) order of merit championship award prize-giving to dependent devotee disciple entourage for bravery, distinction, good conduct and services rendered.

Back in scholarly and learned study (with private personal reference library), set up in and occupying commandeered pantry (generously supplied on indefinite loan, with support from charitable patronage donor) : opportunistic thieving magpies watch dumbstruck when musical score notes from the latest unfinished symphony manuscript sheet (left open during composition), lift off, float away, become Olympic athletes, a Monopoly board-game serving as sports-ground ; while troupe of chess-pieces leap (with a hop, skip and a jump), from one piano-key onto the next, in choreographic ballet dance routine. One of very few, rare and unmissable opportunities for exerting influence upon the very powers that most factors are passively controlled by ; providing golden opportunity to combine with them, coming together, as a force and name to conjure, contend and reckon with ; far more than just a contribution towards determining outcome of everything else, anywhere, out there in the whole big, wide world at large –and way beyond that as well. Such fast-moving and heated developments, prove far too much for these ignorant bandits, who, upon recovery and regaining of their senses, make their excuses and leave, scared off, beating a hasty retreat from the scene-of-the-crime, forever unaware of what they’ve done and has hit them.

Copyright, Douglas Park, 2003

Published in the book ’Au Revoir Moodle Pozart’, Fuitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
http://www.michellenaismith.com/Disrehearsal-Douglas-Park